SHILLONG, JUL 20: Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Secretary Manuel Badwar on Monday joined students protesting at Don Bosco Square, Laitumkhrah, extending the party’s support to demands for accountability over exam paper leaks and education reforms.
Addressing the media, Badwar said the demonstration reflected mounting anger among young people whose academic futures are being undermined.
“We are here to show support and solidarity with the student community,” Badwar said.
“This is a critical moment. The frustration among youth, especially students whose careers are being impacted by the government’s misadventures, is real. Politics plays a major role in education, and for the government to treat this as minor is wrong,” he said.
He said the protest was not about politics, but about desperation.
“These are well-educated young people who normally wouldn’t come out like this. But they feel let down. Families who have struggled to send children to school also feel let down. When policies are toyed with, it creates an epidemic in the education system that the government appears to ignore,” Badwar added.
Referring to calls for the Union Education Minister to resign, Badwar said the Centre had failed to respond with empathy.
“This defines the future of our country, our state, and our society. The government cannot keep ignoring it and insist on doing things its own way. It shows that education is probably not on their agenda,” he said.
Badwar said the system requires urgent overhaul.
“The system needs to be rejigged and reinvented. If we don’t, we will keep losing generations. The intellectual capital we should gain from education will never come. In this day and age, education is central to economic and social development,” he said.
Badwar clarified that MPCC leaders were present as citizens.
“We stand with the students and with the rest of the country. The opposition in Delhi is raising this issue strongly and we believe every citizen should support them,” he said.
“We are with them, and we will continue to be with them. The country’s future needs a new trajectory, not the one we are on today,” he added.
 Secretary Manuel Badwar on Monday joined students protesting at Don Bosco Square, Laitumkhrah, extending the party’s support to demands for accountability over exam paper leaks and education reforms.){kind=link}