Overview
- Dharmendra Pradhan submitted his resignation, which President Droupadi Murmu accepted on July 25, 2026, after more than a month of student protests over alleged exam paper leaks.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave Pralhad Joshi additional charge of the Education Ministry and Joshi said he would discharge duties with humility and work to meet the prime minister’s expectations.
- Pradhan said he stepped down to protect students and prevent protests from being used by what he described as anti-national forces, and he urged that students’ futures not be caught up in legal complications.
- Pradhan’s roughly five-year tenure advanced NEP-2020 rollout, expanded PM-SHRI schools and promoted multilingual education while repeated paper leaks and questions about the National Testing Agency eroded public trust in national exams.
- The change continues a pattern of short, contested ministerial tenures since 2014 and leaves immediate questions about probe outcomes, exam integrity measures and how the ministry will reassure millions of students who depend on fair testing.