NEW DELHI: The parliamentary panel tasked with strengthening the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts some of India’s most important competitive examinations, has called for a parliamentary framework to ensure the agency’s accountability, a shift to computer-based testing for medical entrance examinations, substantial investment in question banks and the isolation of question-setters until examinations conclude to prevent paper leaks.
The committee submitted its final report on Friday.
The 382nd report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, titled Reforms and Strengthening of the National Testing Agency, was presented to the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha and forwarded to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha on October 9. Constituted on September 26, 2025, under the chairmanship of MP Mukul Wasnik, the committee comprises 31 Lok Sabha members and nine Rajya Sabha members, apart from five Secretariat officials.
The 44-page report describes the NTA as “the gateway for the higher education system in the country”, as it conducts major public examinations such as JEE-Mains, NEET-UG, UGC-NET and CUET. Around 1.2 crore students sit these examinations annually. The cancellation of NEET-UG 2026, despite various security measures introduced following the NEET-UG 2024 controversy, calls for greater procedural and institutional reforms, the report said.
Given the agency’s significant responsibilities and the need to coordinate with multiple stakeholders, the committee said its organisational structure should reflect the scale of its duties.
“Its organising structure may be finalised such that the resources and accountability structures of the NTA are in correspondence with the responsibilities with which it has been entrusted. In doing so, the Department may introduce an appropriate parliamentary framework that ensures the NTA’s accountability to Parliament,” it recommended.
The report places considerable emphasis on the creation of question banks.
“Investment in question banks is the most viable defence against paper leaks in the long run. The repeated use of the same question sets or the practice of having examiners set new question papers every year can pose a risk to the integrity of the examination process,” the committee said.
It called for investment in a large, diverse and continuously updated question bank from which examination papers could be prepared without question-setters knowing the final questions in advance.
Under the computer-based testing (CBT) model, question papers would not need to be printed and transported to examination centres. “Accordingly, the final question papers should be set very close to the examination, with questions drawn from the question bank using digital tools and vetted only by experts,” it recommended.
The committee also stressed the need for “strict quarantine and sequestering of the final paper-vetters until the conclusion of the examination”. Experts from reputed educational institutions, including the IITs, IIMs and AIIMS, should be engaged to develop question banks and undertake translation work.
“The NTA must also develop a system to check the track record of these experts to establish their integrity and rule out any conflict of interest (e.g. owners or faculty members of private coaching centres, family members sitting the examination, etc.) before recruiting them,” it added.
The panel reiterated its recommendation to shift NEET-UG to a computer-based test format, which would require substantial investment in government-owned CBT infrastructure, particularly in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and rural areas.
It said the recommendation of the High-Level Committee of Experts to establish 1,000 secure government CBT centres should be implemented according to a clear, phased timeline. The NTA should also financially support the establishment of medium-sized IT laboratories in schools and colleges, with at least one centre in every district, the committee recommended.
The panel also called for an increase in staffing at the NTA, noting that the agency had filled only 41 per cent of its sanctioned posts, with 23 officers occupying 39 sanctioned positions.
Expressing concern over the growth of the private coaching industry around competitive examinations, the committee said it contributed to severe socioeconomic inequalities. Students from wealthier families can afford coaching fees ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, while those from less affluent backgrounds often cannot, it noted.
The panel also made two recommendations on examination procedures. Students who arrive a few minutes late at examination centres should be allowed to sit the examination after signing an undertaking recording their late arrival, but without being granted additional time.
It also recommended allowing invigilators a 15-minute window before or after the examination to complete the necessary formalities.