NTA begins major exam overhaul with new security measures and specialist appointments, over 50 staff removed

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has removed more than 50 staff members and is onboarding 10 professional leaders as part of an overhaul of its examination system following recent NEET-UG and UGC-NET controversies.

Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi reviewed the agency’s reform measures at a meeting with Department of Higher Education Secretary Deepti Gaur Mukherjee, NTA Director General Abhishek Singh and other senior officials.

The new leadership positions include Chief Technology Officer, Chief Finance Officer, Chief Information Security Officer, General Manager for Test Security and General Manager for Research and Development and Psychometrics.

The NTA is also bringing in specialists from the private sector for cyber-security, psychometrics, question-paper design and other technical areas.

Joshi directed the NTA to strictly follow established examination protocols and ordered a comprehensive overhaul of its Confidential Operations (CONOPS) architecture.

The overhaul will cover secluded rooms, air-gapped systems and device-deposit protocols. These measures have been directed to be implemented on a "war footing."

The NTA has also been asked to conduct a detailed audit of its examination processes and submit a report on the corrective measures taken.

The reforms are aimed at strengthening security and operational controls across different stages of examination conduct and preventing lapses at source.

The changes come after the NTA ordered the re-conduct of UGC-NET papers in English, Commerce and Sociology following complaints from candidates.

An NTA committee examining the complaints found multiple factual, typographical and translation errors in the three papers. These included misspelled names of prominent scholars, garbled book titles, errors in question wording, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, and non-standard terms.

The committee also found a significant number of questions repeated from previous examinations and recommended that the three papers be re-conducted to ensure a fair and error-free examination.

The English and Commerce papers will be re-conducted on Sept 9, while the Sociology paper will be held on Sept 10. Candidates will not have to pay an additional examination fee.

The overhaul also follows the crisis surrounding NEET-UG 2026, after the May 3 examination was cancelled following a paper leak.

The controversy led to months of scrutiny of the NTA’s examination processes and student protests demanding accountability. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan later resigned, after which Pralhad Joshi was given charge of the Education Ministry.

The NTA is now strengthening its technical and professional capabilities through new leadership positions and specialist appointments. The agency has also been directed to fix responsibility for lapses and ensure strict compliance with examination protocols.

The measures are intended to strengthen examination security, improve question-paper quality and reduce the risk of administrative and technical failures.