What should real change look like? Simply adding a coding class or distributing tablets in schools is not education reform. For genuine transformation, three fundamental changes are essential. First, the single-exam-based system must be abolished. Both China and the United States, in their own ways, are moving evaluation toward continuous and multidimensional assessments spread throughout the entire educational journey. India too should shift from a make-or-break single-day exam to multiple evaluation opportunities, secure digital proctoring, and portfolio-based assessments of students’ actual skills. This would reduce the benefits of cheating and lower the cost of any single paper leak. Second, AI literacy must be made a core part of the curriculum, not an optional add-on. Like in China, the use of AI, understanding its limitations, fact-checking, and critical evaluation should be taught from the early grades. If this doesn’t happen, AI will become a new divide between rich and poor students in India, where affluent families are already giving their children an extra edge through coaching. Third, and most importantly, the mindset that confines education to preparation for limited government jobs must change. Every year, millions of youth chase the same few secure jobs, whose numbers aren’t growing. Instead, skill-based vocational education, industry-linked apprenticeship programs, and flexible systems for re-education or skill acquisition at any stage of life will be far more crucial. If India squanders this opportunity Using tear gas on students cannot be justified in any situation. At the same time, impartial investigations and accountability for incidents like paper leaks are also essential. But if the response to this entire movement is limited to just ousting a minister or introducing new anti-cheating software, India will squander its “historic moment for the Gen Z generation” on superficial reforms. Meanwhile, China is forging ahead in transforming an entire generation into an AI-enabled workforce, while the United States continues to give its private sector the freedom to experiment. The students who have embraced calling themselves “cockroaches” are not just demanding fair exams. They are raising the fundamental question of whether, in today’s world reshaped by artificial intelligence, it is still fair to have a system where one exam, one chance, and ultimately limited secure jobs are the sole purpose of the entire education—while the whole world is being transformed by artificial intelligence. India must not just give them better exams, but rebuild the entire education system.