NTA undertakes system overhaul for error-free exams in future, axes over 50 staff

Under fire over the re-test of three UGC-NET papers that were riddled with several errors, the National Testing Agency (NTA) went into damage control mode on Monday by sacking more people, taking the total number of axed staff members to 50, and roping in professionals for key leadership positions as part of its measures to reform the examination system.

The development came as the NTA faced renewed flak from opposition parties and several student groups who held protests here following the Sunday night announcement of the re-test, demanding that the NTA be scrapped as its "repeated lapses" have put students' academic and career plans at risk.

NTA sources, however, asserted that it had acted in the interest of students and said internal processes and protocols are being reviewed to ensure that all exams are fair and error-free in the future.

The agency proactively looked into the complaints and decided to conduct re-tests, with all corrective measures being taken in the overall interest of candidates and to strengthen the foundation of a more accountable examination system, sources said.

Education Minister Pralhad Joshi, who took charge after Dharmendra Pradhan was forced to resign following widespread student protests over a paper leak in the NEET-UG exam, held a meeting with the secretary in the Department of Higher Education, the NTA director general and other senior officials.

He was apprised of the steps taken by the agency in the wake of recent issues and reforming the overall exam system, the ministry said.

While the ministry had earlier mentioned in an X post that Joshi was apprised that "more than 50 staff have been removed from NTA", an official later clarified that the number included 47 removals made earlier.

In a major crackdown in the NEET paper leak controversy, the National Testing Agency terminated 47 officials in July.

Ten new professional leadership positions, including chief technology officer, chief finance officer, CISO, GM (test security) and GM (R and D and psychometrics), have been advertised and are being onboarded, the ministry said.

Domain specialists are also being brought in from the private sector for cybersecurity, psychometrics, question paper design and other specialised areas, it said.

The minister directed that strict compliance be ensured with the established exam protocols and that a complete overhaul of the confidential operations (CONOPS) architecture, secluded rooms, air-gapped systems, and device deposit protocols be implemented on a war footing, the ministry said.

The NTA has been directed to conduct a thorough audit of all exam processes and submit a report on the corrective actions taken, the ministry said.

Joshi later posted on X that the discussion focused on strengthening the education ecosystem through larger reforms, with emphasis on driving transformative changes and strengthening the foundations of India's education system.

"We also deliberated on critical issues relating to school and higher education, with a focus on addressing key challenges and ensuring a more robust, responsive and future-ready education system," he said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi targeted the Modi government and demanded that the NTA's leadership be held accountable.

In a post on X, he alleged that "this is no longer an education system. It is an extraction machine".

He said Pradhan's resignation was the first step, but not the last. "NTA's leadership must be held accountable too," he demanded.

Several student organisations on Monday held protests in Delhi and announced nationwide demonstrations against the NTA's decision to re-conduct the UGC-NET examinations.

These included the National Students Union of India (NSUI), Students' Federation of India (SFI), All India Students' Association (AISA) and Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS).

Even the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, expressed serious concern over the issue, with its national general secretary Virendra Singh Solanki saying that students' future cannot be compromised and the NTA must be held accountable.

Several other Congress leaders also slammed the government, saying students were paying the price for the NTA's inefficiency and that the party will not stop until Prime Minister Narendra Modi answers for students' years being "stolen".

In a post on X, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the issue was not a "minor error" but a failure that was costing students their time, money, mental peace and opportunities.

As per the announcement, the re-test for English and Commerce papers will be held on September 9, while the exam for Sociology will be conducted on September 10.

The NTA conducted the UGC-NET June 2026 from June 22 to 30 across 87 subjects for the award of junior research fellowship, eligibility for assistant professors, and admission to PhD programmes.

"The task of an examination-conducting agency is not only to conduct error-free examinations, but also to act promptly and honestly whenever an anomaly is found," a source said.

The NTA has taken the responsibility of acknowledging that something had gone wrong in these papers and for taking corrective action, at the cost to itself, rather than papering over the problem, the source added.

"The willingness to identify problems proactively, to admit them, and to act, even where action is difficult, is itself the foundation of a more accountable examination system. An agency that conducts examinations at this scale will occasionally encounter problems; what defines its credibility is that it finds them, owns them, and corrects them in the interest of candidates," the source said.

The NTA said it received several complaints about multiple errors in three papers, following which it formed a committee to look into the lapses.

"The committee identified the anomalies in the three subjects and recommended that, in the interest of holding a fair and error-free examination, these three papers should be re-conducted. It was recommended that papers carrying such defects did not meet the standards of fairness and error-free examination," the NTA said.