Education Minister Bhuse must resign in 7 days over TET paper leak: Congress

NSUI and the Youth Congress, through their “Gen Z University” initiative, released a symbolic report card for Education Minister Dada Bhuse, in Mumbai on Monday.

Citing the failures of the state’s education system, the report card declared Bhuse “failed”.

Salunkhe said the state’s education system had collapsed and accused the BJP-Mahayuti government of turning education into a business rather than a public service.

He said assigning teachers Booth Level Officer (BLO) duties had left schools neglected and students suffering academically. The excessive workload had also adversely affected teachers’ mental health, and he cited the death of a teacher in Mumbai due to work-related stress, he said.

Salunkhe alleged that the School Education Department, the Higher and Technical Education Department, and the Medical Education Department were all functioning in a chaotic manner.

He claimed that tribal students in Nandurbar district were being cheated and forced to pay thousands of rupees, while fake nursing colleges had mushroomed across the state.

Referring to CEOP College in Pune, he alleged that students were being charged Rs 81,000 as development fees, Rs 22,000 as laboratory fees, and Rs 17,000 as tuition fees, accusing Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil of allowing such exploitation.

He also alleged that the Education Department had become a money-making enterprise, pointing out that a Rs 5 crore tender had been awarded for the college admission process even though admissions for around 400,000 Class XI students were still pending.

Salunkhe warned if these irregularities were not stopped, the Congress would intensify its protests and hold the government accountable.

Mumbai Youth Congress President Zeenat Shabrin said the Youth Congress had organised several protests following the TET paper leak in an attempt to wake the government from its slumber, but the government had remained indifferent. She asserted that the agitation would continue until Education Minister Dada Bhuse resigned.

NSUI State General Secretary Rishikesh Khandale gave a presentation highlighting what he described as the Education Department’s negligence and administrative failures. South Central Mumbai Youth Congress President Pragya Dhawale was also present at the press conference.