The three-day National Executive Committee meeting of the Students Federation of India (SFI) began on Monday in Visakhapatnam. Students took out a rally demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and raised slogans in support of public education. The rally culminated in a public meeting at the Gurajada Kalakshetram in Siripuram.

Addressing the gathering of students, SFI All India General Secretary Srijan Bhattacharya alleged that the BJP-led Centre had presided over widespread ‘leakages' in examinations and education funding over the past decade, with 1.20 lakh government schools shut nationally and cuts to the mid-day meal scheme, scholarships and fellowships.

He further alleged that the RSS agenda was being implemented in Andhra Pradesh following Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s alliance with the BJP, posing a threat to the State’s education sector. Speakers flagged vacant teacher posts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, privatisation of industrial training institutes in West Bengal, and funding cuts to higher education in Assam.

SFI All India president Adarsh M. Saji said that the organisation had held over 800 protests across 24 States against irregularities in the NEET and CBSE examinations and lapses by the National Testing Agency, with nearly 1,000 students detained and 16 jailed. He claimed over 22 lakh students were affected by NEET lapses and 16 lakh by CBSE evaluation errors, and alleged the resulting deaths of 21 students by suicide amounted to 'government murders.’ He further said that the Andhra Pradesh government, allied with the Centre, had failed to address these issues.