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“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.”

– Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971)

The Modi government through its various ministries and departments, however, seems to have done the exact opposite over the last 13 years. It has failed to meaningfully reform systems and institutions in need of structural change, while repeatedly disrupting institutions and systems that require stability and careful stewardship. 

The resultant chaos is there for all to see, most recently in the state of education in our country.

After cancelling and rescheduling the 2026 NEET examination – following a major question paper leak that affected over 22 lakh aspirants – the government is now faced with yet another national level fiasco, this time involving class 12 students who recently appeared for their Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board examinations.

This year, 18 lakh class 12 students submitted 98 lakh answer booklets – with the total number of pages running into crores. But instead of evaluators physically checking these answer sheets, the answer booklets were scanned, uploaded digitally and evaluated online. 

When the exam results came out on May 13, many students were dismayed to see they had received much lower marks than expected. In fact, the overall pass percentage of students dropped to 85.29% this year from 88.39% last year. There was also a notable decline in the number of students scoring above 90%.

When these students requested scans of their answer sheets for re-evaluation, they were shocked to see blurred scans, barely legible handwriting, cropped pages and impossible-to-decipher diagrams and equations.

Stuti, who has taught political science at a private school in central Delhi for the last 19 years, talked about the anxiety and anger this sparked amongst students, parents and educators.

“One of my brightest students, who has already received provisional admission from an Ivy League college, was expecting to score at least 90% – the minimum required to secure her place – but ended up with only 82%. Is she now going to have to explain to the........

© The Wire