NEET: Yearly review of qualifying percentile, age cap, exam stages, CBT, attempt limits- Parliamentary panel calls for NTA reforms
New Delhi: While examining the role of the National Testing Agency (NTA) in the wake of the National Eligibility-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leak and cancellation of the examination, a Parliamentary Standing Committee in its report has called for a legislative mechanism in order to ensure the agency's accountability to both Houses of Parliament.
In its 382nd report on "Reforms and Strengthening of the National Testing Agency (NTA)", a Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, observed that NTA bears unique and critical responsibilities in India's education architecture.
"Every year, it makes decisions that shape the future of millions of young people and their families. The trust that students and parents place in NTA is not merely an administrative concern but a trust that the examination they are sitting is fair, secure, and meritocratic. It is a matter of social justice and national integrity," the panel mentioned in its report.
The panel observed that under the National Education Policy 2020, NTA has the responsibility of conducting all of India’s most significant public examinations such as JEE-Mains, NEET-UG, UGC-NET, and CUET, among others and therefore acts as the gateway for the higher education system.
Noting that the successful conduct of an all-India exam like NEET requires a whole-of-government mobilization across departments at the Union, State, and local government level, the panel has recommended that the Education Department may introduce appropriate Parliamentary framework for ensuring NTA's accountability to Parliament.
"...NTA has extremely significant responsibilities and also faces the task of coordination with multiple stakeholders. The NTA is in a continually evolving state and its organizing structure may be finalized such that the resources and accountability structures of the NTA are in correspondence with the responsibilities which it has been vested with. In doing so, the Department may introduce appropriate Parliamentary framework that ensures NTA’s accountability to Parliament," recommended the Committee report.
The Committee recognised that the NTA has made progress since the 2024 paper irregularities. It called the institutional linkages with State governments, the Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, the CCTV monitoring with AI analysis, the mobile jammers, and the government-only examination centers as improvements.
However, referring to the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026, the panel observed in its report that further improvement is necessary. "On the contrary, the organised networks that profit from examination fraud are adaptive and resourceful, who will always seek the weakest link in the chain. The NTA therefore needs adequate staff, robust security protocols, clear accountability mechanisms, and digitalization of operations and examinations to ensure that it stays ahead of any challenges," noted the panel.
Key Reforms Suggested by the Panel:
Computer-based model instead of pen-and-paper:
The panel noted that investment in question banks is the most viable defense against paper leaks in the long-run. It observed that repeated use of the same question sets or the practice of having examiners set new question papers every year can be a risk to the integrity of the examination process.
Accordingly, the panel recommended that NTA should invest in building a large, diverse, and continuously updated question bank which can be drawn on to set papers without the advance knowledge of the question-setters.
"The Committee notes that in the CBT format, question papers no longer have to be printed and transported to examination centers. Therefore, there is no compulsion to set question papers long in advance. Accordingly, the final question papers should be set very close to the examination, with questions drawn from the question bank using digital tools and only vetted by experts. Finally, the Committee emphasizes strict quarantine and sequestering of the final paper-vetters until the conclusion of the examination," mentioned the report.
"The Committee further recommends that the NTA must rely on bona fide experts from our most renowned educational institutions – including IITs, AIIMSs, IIMs, etc. - to develop its question banks and for translation. The NTA must also develop a system to check the track record of said experts to establish their integrity and to rule out any conflict of interest (e.g., owners or faculty of private coaching centers, family members giving the exam, etc.) before recruiting them," it added.
Hiring of Manpower:
The panel noted that out of the 39 sanctioned positions in the NTA, only 23 officers are currently in position and on deputation to the NTA – a vacancy of 41%. It observed that the hiring of manpower to strengthen the NTA was among the key recommendations of the High-Level Expert Committee chaired by Dr. K Radhakrishnan.
Taking note of the shortage of manpower in the NTA, the panel has urged the agency to expedite the recruitment to all sanctioned positions.
"The Committee notes that all the 39 permanent posts that exist in the NTA are currently filled through a deputation mode. Officers on deputation generally serve for a limited tenure of two to three years before returning to their parent cadres. However, the conduct of national-level entrance examinations requires considerably expertise which is generally built over several years of experience. Accordingly, a dedicated cadre of professional staff is required for this purpose. The Committee recommends that the NTA should therefore hire its own officers on a permanent basis, with a particular emphasis on specialists in psychometrics, examination security, digital infrastructure, data analytics, and examination logistics. The 16 posts under the Central Staffing Scheme should be treated as a supplementary layer of senior leadership, not as a substitute for domain expertise," mentioned the panel report.
Avoiding reliance on private centres:
The panel noted that for CBT examinations conducted by NTA a concrete implementation plan for secure government CBT centers, including budgetary provisioning and a current mapping of existing government-owned facilities, needs to be finalized expeditiously.
Accordingly, it recommended that adequate government-owned infrastructure must be in place so that reliance on private centers is avoided.
Rallies on Exam Day:
In its report, the panel noted that public rallies, processions, or large gatherings on the day of examination can delay candidates and cause them to miss their reporting time.
Accordingly, the panel has recommended an amendment in the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, and issuing directions to District Administration to withhold permission for any rally, procession, or any other public gathering on examination days, and to ensure that smooth traffic and law-and-order arrangements are in place well in advance, so that no candidate is affected by an avoidable, external disturbance.
Yearly Review of cut-off Percentile:
The panel noted that currently NEET (UG) qualifies far more candidates than the seats available across MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and nursing courses put together. A reasonably wide qualifying pool gives students a fair chance through counseling rounds and private or deemed seats, but an excessively wide gap creates needless stress for lakhs of students, it observed.
Accordingly, it has opined that NTA and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare should undertake a data-based, year-wise review of the qualifying percentile and cut-off methodology, keeping the number of qualified candidates reasonably aligned to actual seat availability, without compromising merit.
Two-stage examination format:
The panel noted that contrary to the Civil Services Examination that follows a multi-stage format for filtration of candidates, NEET (UG) examination remains a single-stage test that covers MBBS, BDS, nursing, and AYUSH admissions together handling more than 22 lakh students.
It has opined that NTA should examine the feasibility of a two-stage format for its large examinations, such as having a common prelims examination for all medical streams while conducting specialized mains stage for specific courses, so that a candidate seeking nursing or AYUSH is tested and ranked apart from one seeking admission to MBBS, reducing avoidable competition.
National Registry of Blacklisted Examination Vendors:
The panel noted that firms involved in examination-related services such as paper setting, logistics, printing, administration etc. that have been blacklisted by one or more State government(s) or organisation(s) have continued to secure contracts with other States and organisations. There is currently no preventive mechanism to counter this malpractice.
Therefore, the panel has recommended that NTA should create and maintain a National Registry of Blacklisted Examination Vendors. "This registry should include the names of firms, their associated individuals and entities, the nature of the disqualification, and the authority that imposed it. It should be publicly accessible online. Contracting with any entity on this list by NTA, any State Government(s), or any other public examination authority should be considered under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. The Committee notes that it has previously made the same recommendation in its 371st report on the Autonomous Bodies of the Higher Education Department," mentioned the panel report.
Greater Public Awareness regarding NTA's channels for feedback from students:
Noting that institutional culture matters as much as the procedures, the panel has recommended that NTA needs to cultivate a culture where every official from the Director General to the centre invigilator sees themselves as a guardian of examination integrity, not just as a jobholder in an administrative system.
"The Committee notes that recent challenges have affected the public trust in the National Testing Agency, and that rebuilding this trust will require consistent, transparent, and two-way communication with stakeholders. The Committee notes that the NTA's present engagement with candidates is largely confined to one-way communication through portals and notifications. It notes that the NTA’s channels for feedback from students and educational institutions need greater public awareness. The Committee recommends that such channels be built into the ordinary functioning of the NTA and be widely dispersed across students, parents, and instructors, so as to enable the agency to be more responsive to stakeholder concerns," it further recommended.
Age Cap and attempt limits:
During the course of its meetings, the Committee was apprised that presently NEET (UG) has no limit on how many times a candidate can attempt it, and no real upper age limit either.
According to the panel, this has resulted in anomalies such as the participation of candidates above the age of 70 years in the NEET examinations.
"The Committee recommends that the Ministry explore, alongside the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and all other relevant stakeholders, possibilities of reasonable age limits and reasonable attempt limits to all major examinations including the NEET-UG. The Committee notes that an exception to this rule may be made only for the UGCNET," recommended the panel.
