Established in May 2018 as an independent “primary testing organisation”, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has spent much of its time fighting fires – and the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 (a re-test announced), after the discovery of a leak of a paper taken by 2.2 million aspirants, is the latest in a long line of failures that experts attribute to two structural flaws: over-reliance on outsourcing and a chronic shortage of permanent staff.
The agency’s problems predate the current crisis. In its first five years, between 2018 and 2023, NTA faced operational problems – technical glitches, linguistic errors in question papers, dropped questions in final answer keys, normalization disputes, and allocation issues at the examination centre. Since 2024, the problems have become more serious. The controversy over NEET-UG 2024 in May, followed by the leak-related cancellation and reconduct of UGC-NET in June, August and September that year – the first complete re-examination of the NTA after an integrity breach – was indicative of a profound institutional failure.
A parliamentary committee on education, which submitted its report in December 2025, found that at least five out of 14 competitive examinations conducted by the NTA in 2024 and early 2025 had “significant problems”. Three exams – UGC-NET, CSIR-NET and NEET-PG – had to be postponed (although they were not conducted by NTA). In JEE Main January 2025, at least 12 questions had to be withdrawn after errors were found in the final answer key.
The government’s response to the 2024 crisis was the Radhakrishnan Committee – a seven-member panel headed by former ISRO chief Dr K. Radhakrishnan, was formed in June 2024. Its report, submitted on October 21, recommended strengthening the structure of the NTA, closer coordination with states, tighter oversight of third-party vendors, and stronger safeguards for both paper-based and computer-based tests — including encrypted digital transmission of question papers, and multi-layered access. Controls, real-time audit trails and enhanced CCTV monitoring.
Specifically regarding question paper security, it called for larger question banks, late-stage algorithmic randomization, strict division of paper preparation teams, anonymous expert contributions, and multi-level review mechanisms.
Some of this has been acted upon. The government created 16 new jobs, although most of them remain vacant. District level coordination committees headed by district collectors have been set up for NEET-UG. Examination centers were shifted to government or government-owned buildings, with NTA reporting 94% compliance.
But the commission’s central prescription – replacing NTA’s contract workforce with permanent, accountable staff – remains largely unimplemented. Of the 16 new positions, only three joint directors have joined so far, while the agency continues to rely on 43 contract employees.
A member of Radhakrishnan’s committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the reforms adopted so far have tightened “intermediate and downstream” processes such as examination center operations, proctoring and logistics. But the basic problem has not been solved. “NTA’s over-reliance on contractual staff is its biggest weakness. Too few regular and accountable staff creates institutional fragility. The committee has recommended a complete restructuring with more permanent staff and less dependence on contract workers, but NTA is yet to implement this.”
The vulnerability lies deep in the question paper preparation process as well. One faculty member from a central university involved in preparing the papers at NTA, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the experts involved in developing the questions are largely contract workers — as are the staff responsible for writing and translating them. “This increases the risk of leaks and weakens accountability, as there is no established institutional responsibility,” the faculty member said.
The parliamentary committee reached the same conclusion, recommending that the NTA build greater internal capacity. It advised that NTA’s surplus funds amount to $Rs 448 crore will be deployed to enhance internal capabilities instead of remaining idle.
Keshav Agarwal, an educationist and president of the Education Confederation – an association of teachers and coaching centers in Delhi – said the NTA’s failures are structural and not accidental. He said: “It is the product of a central monopoly with no transparency and accountability, no leadership of field experts, security from external sources, and political protection of the examination mafia.” “Every external link in the chain represents a potential leak point with no single entity having end-to-end security.”
NTA Director General Abhishek Singh did not respond to HT’s request for comment.
