New Delhi: The "rot" in India's education system is deep and Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation as education minister is only the first step in a long journey to restoring its integrity, the Congress said on Thursday.

Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh on X shared a screenshot of a media report claiming that the engineering admissions process in Maharashtra's premier institutes has come under scrutiny after the surfacing of a scam alleging managed exam centres.

"The rot in India's education system is deep and Mantri Pradhan's resignation is only the first step of a long journey to restoring its integrity," Ramesh said on X.

He said that for the last three years, there has been a divergence between the results of the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MH-CET) for engineering and the class 12 board marks.

The toppers in the MH-CET are unable to perform well in their Board exams, Ramesh said.

"Is this due to foul-play? Is this due to the growing prevalence of coaching over school-based education? We need to introspect deeply," the Congress leader said.

The former environment minister said that simply passing a law to create fast-track courts for paper leaks is not a solution, and the move "insults" the sentiments and righteous frustration of the lakhs of youth who have taken to the streets over the last couple of months.

This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.