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