Congress targets Modi government over ‘broken education system’ on Teachers’ Day

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that there had been an 80% jump in student suicides under the Modi government and that 1.23 lakh students had taken their own lives during this period. File | Photo Credit: PTI The top Congress leadership used the occasion of National Teachers’ Day, commemorating former President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s birth anniversary, to highlight what they described as the “broken education system” under the Narendra Modi government.In a post on social media platform X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge posted a hard-hitting video presentation arguing that the education sector had all but collapsed in the past 12 years, while his party colleague, Rahul Gandhi, urged teachers to ensure that everyone received equal opportunity.Modi Govt has paralysed and systematically gutted education over the last 12 years. The future of an entire generation of India's youth has been recklessly destroyed & sacrificed. pic.twitter.com/E7bwuOcnk8— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) September 5, 2026“Today, India’s education system poses several serious questions before us. Together, we must build a system where every student has access to equal opportunities, quality education, and a bright future,” Mr. Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said in a post on X.He also paid tribute to India’s second President, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, after whom the day is celebrated, on his birth anniversary.In his two-minute-long video presentation, Mr. Kharge, citing various news reports and other sources, alleged that there had been an 80% jump in student suicides under the Modi government and that 1.23 lakh students had taken their own lives during this period.“Modi government has paralysed and systematically gutted education over the last 12 years. The future of an entire generation of India’s youth has been recklessly destroyed & sacrificed,” Mr. Kharge said in a post on X, along with the video graphics.The Congress chief said 94,000 schools had been shut during the tenure of the Modi government, 2.26 crore children had been wiped out of enrolment, the share of government schools had come down from 71% to 49%, and four out of every 10 children dropped out by Class 12 or higher secondary level.Further, the video presentation claimed that there were nearly 8,000 schools receiving funding with zero students; 1.9 lakh schools did not have functional electricity; and even the premier Indian Institutes of Technology were functioning with 39% vacancies in faculty positions.In a separate post, the Congress chief hailed Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as an “eminent philosopher, teacher and statesman whose wisdom remains timeless and forever inspiring”.Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh remembered the famed scholar as a “renowned philosopher, brilliant writer, mesmerising speaker, an impactful diplomat for a short while in the USSR, and a man deeply devoted to the cause of education and institution building”. Published - September 05, 2026 09:51 pm IST