NEW DELHI: The United Students of India, a joint platform of 16 organisations, on Friday staged a protest against the central government's education policies at Jantar Mantar here and demanded the withdrawal of the NEP, 2020 and the cancellation of CUET and the NEET.

Over 500 students from across the country gathered at Jantar Mantar for the protest.

Terming the Centre's policies "draconian", the student organisations said they have led to the "collapse" of the public education system in the country under the government.

The student bodies slammed the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), Common University Entrance Test (CUET) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and demanded their withdrawal.

They said the NEP, CUET, NEET, and other policies have adversely impacted the educational system and appealed to the student community to reject the current government in the upcoming elections.

The student organisations also demanded free and quality education from kindergarten to post-graduation, more employment generation, implementation of reservation in the private sector, and the rollback of the Agnipath scheme.

The student groups carried posters with the slogan 'Save Education, Reject NEP Save INDIA Reject BJP'.

Addressing the gathering, AISF general secretary Dinesh Sreerangaraj said there was a need for alternative policies on education at the state level to counter the NEP.

AISA general secretary Prasenjit Bose stressed on the need for united action and mobilisation across the country for student rights.

The protest rally was attended by 16 student organisations, including AISA, SFI, NSUI, DMK students' wing, among others.