Parliamentary Panel Demands Urgent NTA Reforms, Flags Exam Irregularities

A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports has raised significant concerns regarding persistent irregularities in examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), despite previous reform efforts. Chaired by Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh, the committee presented its 381st action-taken report to Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan on June 16, 2026. This report builds upon recommendations from its 364th report on Demands for Grants (2025-26) related to the Department of Higher Education. The panel highlighted that disruptions, cancellations, and allegations of malpractice continue to plague national-level competitive examinations, leading to widespread anxiety and uncertainty among millions of students and their families across India. The committee explicitly endorsed Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's earlier acknowledgement from June 16, 2024, that the NTA requires substantial improvements. In response to these recurring issues, the parliamentary committee has strongly urged the Ministry of Education to publish a clear and time-bound implementation roadmap for the recommendations put forth by the High-Level Committee of Experts (HLCE), also known as the K. Radhakrishnan Committee. This committee was constituted by the Ministry of Education to oversee reforms in the examination process, data security protocols, and the overall functioning of the NTA following the 2024 examination controversy. Beyond the NTA's operational integrity, the parliamentary panel also scrutinised the design of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET). Concerns were raised, particularly regarding its multiple-choice question (MCQ) format, which the committee believes may not be suitable for adequately assessing students in humanities and social science disciplines. The report noted that these subjects are inherently centered on independent, subjective thinking, which may not be effectively captured by MCQs. The committee acknowledged CUET's initial objective of reducing the burden on students and universities by creating a common admission platform but recommended a comprehensive review of the examination's overall design and the quality of questions to ensure better alignment with the principles and goals of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The committee further observed that some of its members remained unconvinced about CUET's effectiveness as a universal admission mechanism, especially for institutions like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which have specific academic and legislative mandates that may not be met by a one-size-fits-all approach. The panel resolved to deliberate further on this matter. Financial aspects of the NTA also came under the committee's purview. The report indicated that the NTA collected an estimated Rs 3,512.98 crore while spending Rs 3,064.77 crore on conducting examinations over the last six years, resulting in a surplus of Rs 448 crore. The parliamentary panel recommended that this surplus corpus be strategically utilised to enhance the agency's internal capabilities, strengthen its testing infrastructure, and improve regulatory and monitoring mechanisms, particularly concerning its vendors. Furthermore, the committee called for wider consultations between the Department of Higher Education and the NTA with various stakeholders to establish a 'foolproof' protocol for conducting nationwide competitive examinations. To combat the issue of blacklisted entities continuing to secure contracts, the panel also suggested the creation of a nationwide database of examination-related firms and personnel involved in paper setting, administration, and evaluation. Adding a broader context to the challenges in higher education, another parliamentary panel, the Committee on Estimates (2026-27), in its Tenth Report presented to the Lok Sabha on August 13, 2026, flagged issues such as a 73% student dropout rate before higher secondary education, shortages of new textbooks, and changing examination patterns contributing to academic stress. While this report is distinct, it underscores a larger systemic challenge within the Indian education sector that parliamentary bodies are actively addressing. The persistent concerns raised by the Parliamentary Standing Committee regarding exam irregularities, NTA's functioning, and CUET's design highlight the urgent need for comprehensive and timely reforms to restore public trust in India's national examination system. The recent 2026 NEET-UG scandal and its subsequent cancellation further amplify the gravity of these issues, leading to the resignation of the education minister and the announcement of a new task force on exam reforms by the Prime Minister in July 2026. Parliament also cleared a tougher anti-paper leak law in July 2026, introducing stricter punishments.

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