Vani Jha
A parliamentary standing committee has sharply criticised the National Testing Agency (NTA), stating its recent performance “does not inspire much confidence” among students due to persistent exam delays, errors, and paper leaks. The panel, in a report tabled in Parliament on December 8, 2025, has urged the NTA to “get their act together” and recommended a greater focus on the pen-and-paper examination mode.
Parliament’s Major Concerns and Recommendations for NTA
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, chaired by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, highlighted several systemic failures within the NTA’s operations.
Parliamentary Key Concerns:
- Repeated Lapses: The report noted that in 2024 alone, at least five out of 14 exams conducted by the NTA faced major issues. These included the NEET-UG paper leak allegations, the postponement of UGC-NET, CSIR-NET, and NEET-PG exams, and delays in CUET result declarations.
- Erosion of Trust: The repeated failures, errors (such as 12 questions being withdrawn in the January 2025 JEE Main due to answer key errors), and administrative lapses have significantly affected student confidence in the fairness and integrity of the national testing system.
- Over-reliance on Vendors: The panel found that the NTA relies heavily on private vendors for critical functions like paper-setting and exam administration, despite having a substantial surplus of ₹448 crore over six years.
- Disrupted Academic Calendars: The delays in declaring results, particularly for CUET, are a major concern as they disrupt university admission processes and the start of academic sessions, putting unnecessary pressure on students.
Key Recommendations to consider:
- Shift to Pen-and-Paper Mode: The committee strongly recommended a return to or greater focus on the pen-and-paper examination mode, citing the long track record of leak-proof exams conducted by the UPSC and CBSE using this format.
- Strengthen In-house Capacity: The panel urged the NTA to use its accumulated surplus funds to build its internal capacity for conducting tests independently and strengthen the monitoring of its external vendors.
- Nationwide Blacklist: It called for the Department of Higher Education to compile a nationwide, comprehensive list of blacklisted firms and associated individuals involved in exam malpractices to prevent them from securing future contracts with NTA or state governments.
- Urgent Reform: The committee emphasised that the NTA must act quickly to prevent such avoidable errors from recurring in the future.
The parliamentary has indicated its intent to implement reforms, including restructuring the NTA, focusing its role solely on higher education entrance exams from 2025, and exploring the implementation of technology-driven methods like computer-adaptive testing in the future.