'The Fear Killed Her': How an Exam Scandal in India Sparked a Student Uprising

In India, millions of students study for years just to get into medical school. In May 2024, a major scandal rocked that process when questions for a key national exam were leaked — shared with students who paid large sums of money for them. The government cancelled the results and ordered students to retake the test, creating enormous pressure. That pressure, families say, cost some young people their lives and sparked weeks of protests.

The exam at the center of the crisis is called NEET, which stands for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test. More than 2 million students took it in May. Only about 6% of all students who take it ever earn a spot in a medical college, making it one of the most competitive exams in the world. Families sometimes spend years of savings — or take out big loans — just to help their children prepare.

When the government found out the questions had been leaked, it launched an investigation. India's Central Bureau of Investigation, or CBI, found that teachers and agents at private tutoring centers had sold the exam questions for large amounts of money. The CBI arrested 13 people, including a doctor and several teachers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised that those responsible would face fast-track courts.

The order to retake the exam hit students hard. Sheikh Sana, a 19-year-old who dreamed of becoming a doctor, could not face the pressure of preparing all over again. The day before the retake, she wrote 'I am sorry' on a sheet of paper and took her own life, her family said. Her father traveled to a protest site in New Delhi and told reporters what he believed had happened. 'The fear killed her. The fear of re-NEET,' he said.

Sana was not the only student whose family linked their death to the exam crisis. Pradeep Kumar, 22, had moved to a coaching city called Sikar to study for NEET. His father, a farmer named Rajesh Kumar, had sold land and taken a bank loan totaling about $40,000 to pay for his son's preparation. Pradeep died by suicide just days after the government cancelled the exam results.

A third student, 17-year-old Kahaan Patel from Gujarat state, died just days before the retake exam took place in June. His father said his son had hoped to study medicine and then go on to higher education in the United States. After the retake was announced, Kahaan tried to prepare again but could not handle the stress and uncertainty. 'He wasn't able to fight more, so he ended it,' his father said.

A protest group called the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, led by young Generation Z activists, said it believed 21 students died by suicide in cases linked to the exam scandal. The group helped organize large marches in New Delhi, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets. Police used batons and tear gas to break up some of the crowds, and opposition lawmakers inside parliament also demanded the education minister step down.

The protests lasted about two months and spread to other parts of India. They grew from demands about the NEET leak into a wider frustration about education, fairness, and opportunity in a country where 65% of the population is under age 35. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the main opposition Congress Party, said there had been more than 150 exam leaks over the past decade, most going unpunished.

On a Saturday in late July, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned. In a post on social media, he wrote: 'I deeply respect the aspirations, feelings, and legitimate expectations of the country's youth.' His resignation was seen as a major victory for the protesters, though analysts said it would be hard to seriously damage Prime Minister Modi's overall popularity.

Education activist Nandita Narain said the protests showed how much pressure students face competing for college spots, and how expensive private tutoring has become. 'The youth of India have finally awakened to the seriousness of the problem,' she said. Back at the protest site in Delhi, photographs of students who had died were placed on the stage as crowds continued to chant. The families of those students said they were not looking for money — just accountability.