Ara: Students, youth and research scholars participated in a Student-Youth Parliament organised by the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) at Veer Kunwar Singh University in Ara on Thursday.Participants raised concerns over paper leaks, examination irregularities, rising education fees, privatisation of education and growing unemployment. They demanded the withdrawal of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), abolition of the National Testing Agency (NTA), removal of the mandatory 7.5 CGPA criterion, uniform degrees for all students and an immediate rollback of fee hikes in undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD courses.On the employment front, the students sought an end to outsourcing and contractual recruitment, dignified jobs for all and a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 10,000 for unemployed youth. They also demanded the withdrawal of the new PhD regulations and questioned the Bihar government’s promise of creating one crore jobs.Addressing the gathering, RYA national president Ajit Kushwaha said the crisis of education and unemployment in Bihar was deepening. “Paper leaks, examination irregularities and the deteriorating condition of government institutions have pushed the future of students and youth into uncertainty. The movement on education and employment will be strengthened across Bihar through the Student-Youth Parliament,” he said.AISA’s former general secretary and MLA Sandeep Saurav alleged that repeated examination irregularities and paper leaks were affecting the future of millions of students.AISA state president Sanjay Kumar, RYA state secretary Shiv Prakash Ranjan and AISA state secretary Dipankar Mishra also addressed the gathering.The programme was presided over by a panel of AISA and RYA leaders from Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas and Kaimur districts.
