A Parliamentary panel has urged a stronger shift toward conducting entrance examinations in pen-and-paper mode, pointing to leak-proof models like CBSE and UPSC, noting that the National Testing Agency’s performance over the past year has “failed to inspire confidence.”
Chaired by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, the committee observed that five out of fourteen competitive exams conducted by NTA in 2024 faced major disruptions.
According to the report, UGC-NET, CSIR-NET, and NEET-PG had to be postponed; NEET-UG saw instances of paper leaks; CUET (UG/PG) results were delayed; and in JEE Main 2025 (January session), at least 12 questions were withdrawn due to errors in the final answer key.
Such recurring issues, the Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports said, have eroded students’ trust in the examination system.
“The committee therefore recommends that NTA quickly get its act together so that fully avoidable instances do not occur in the future,” the report stated.
The panel acknowledged that every exam format comes with trade-offs, while pen-and-paper tests carry a risk of leaks, computer-based tests (CBTs) can be hacked in ways that are harder to trace.
Despite this, the committee favoured greater reliance on pen-and-paper exams, citing the long-standing security record of CBSE and UPSC assessments.
It recommended that NTA study these systems closely and adopt their best practices. For CBTs, the panel suggested restricting them to government or government-controlled centres, not private facilities.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous body under India’s Ministry of Education established in 2017, is responsible for major entrance exams including NEET-UG, JEE Main, UGC-NET, and CUET.
Since its inception, the agency has faced widespread allegations of irregularities, including paper leaks, scoring errors, exam delays, and lack of transparency, which intensified in 2024–2025.
The most prominent controversy involved paper leaks in states such as Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.
Reports indicated that over 67 students scored perfect marks (720/720), compared to just two the previous year, sparking suspicions of cheating and compensatory grace marks.
The Supreme Court intervened, resulting in the withdrawal of grace marks for 1,563 candidates and retests for 813, of whom only one achieved full marks, triggering nationwide protests demanding a full re-exam and calls for NTA’s dissolution.
UGC-NET and CSIR-NET 2024 exams were postponed or canceled amid suspected leaks and cyber threats.
The UGC-NET, conducted in pen-and-paper mode for 11 lakh candidates, was scrapped a day after the test and rescheduled as a computer-based exam, highlighting oversight failures.
CUET (UG/PG) 2024 results were repeatedly delayed, with last-minute center changes in Delhi due to elections affecting millions of candidates.
JEE Main 2024–25 also faced issues, in the January 2025 session, 12 questions were withdrawn from the final answer key due to errors, while earlier sessions saw 39 candidates debarred for unfair means, including impersonation.
Critics, including opposition parties, have flagged a lack of transparency and accountability. The NTA’s director general was removed in 2024 amid ongoing probes.
The NTA maintains that many issues arose from external factors like state-level leaks and has implemented measures such as onscreen calculators for JEE 2026. However, ongoing CBI investigations and a December 2025 parliamentary report underscore the urgent need for reforms to restore trust in India’s centralized examination system.
