Parliamentary Panel Raps NTA Over Paper Leaks, Says Agency Must ‘Get Its Act Together’

Parliamentary Panel Slams NTA for Repeated Exam Lapses, Calls for Urgent Overhaul.

A parliamentary standing committee on Monday delivered a strong indictment of the National Testing Agency (NTA), saying recurring errors, paper leaks and exam disruptions have severely eroded students’ trust in the country’s central testing system.

Tabling its report in Parliament, the panel said the NTA must “get its act together” after a year marked by multiple failures across major national-level examinations.

Five of 14 Exams Faced Major Issues

According to the committee, at least five of the 14 competitive exams conducted by the NTA in 2024 suffered significant lapses. The UGC-NET, CSIR-NET and NEET-PG exams were postponed, NEET-UG saw reported cases of paper leaks, and CUET-UG/PG results were delayed.

Problems persisted into 2025. In the January session of JEE Main, 12 questions had to be withdrawn after errors surfaced in the final answer key — a development the panel said further damaged the credibility of the testing regime.

“These instances do not inspire confidence among examinees,” the report said, adding that most of the failures were “fully avoidable” and pointed to weak oversight and inadequate quality checks.

Committee Backs Pen-and-Paper Tests

Reviewing exam formats, the committee was briefed that pen-and-paper tests are more susceptible to leaks, while computer-based tests (CBTs) face hacking risks that are harder to detect.

Despite this, the panel expressed preference for strengthening pen-and-paper exams, noting that bodies like CBSE and UPSC have long maintained leak-proof processes. It recommended that the NTA study and replicate these systems.

For CBTs, the panel advised strict controls — including conducting such exams only in government or government-regulated centres and never in private centres — to minimise tampering and unauthorised access.

Call for Systemic Reform

The committee urged the NTA to immediately overhaul its procedures, upgrade its monitoring mechanisms and restore confidence among the millions of students who depend on national-level exams for higher education and career opportunities.

It warned that unless corrective steps are implemented swiftly, the integrity of the examination ecosystem will continue to deteriorate.