NEW DELHI: The Director General of the National Testing Agency (NTA), Abhishek Singh, in an interaction with TNIE, expressed that certain individuals are trying to sabotage the system in place for the conduct of the NEET-UG examinations. He said such attempts must be thwarted.
“There is a clear attempt to engage in sabotage. We need to identify the gaps that allow them to carry on and fix them at the earliest. We are now working on what can be done to ensure that the exam is completely secure the next time around,” he said.
The dates for the new exam in place of the May 3 exam have not yet been finalised. “We are holding discussions on it and will reveal it shortly,” Singh said.
Elaborating on how the lid blew off the racket, Singh said, “I received a message from a whistleblower on May 7. The whistleblower reported that he had received a WhatsApp message before the exam, in which a few questions matched with questions in the actual examination.”
"The tip was followed up, and it led to findings over a paper leak", he added.
To a query on why the multiple changes proposed by the seven-member committee set up in the aftermath of the NEET-UG 2024 leakage controversy, headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman, K Radhakrishnan, were not implemented, Singh said, “NTA only conducts the exam. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare or the National Medical Council need to take the call on implementing changes.”
Among the major recommendations of the committee were the need to make the exam a computer-based exam, create a multi-staged format like the JEE (Main and Advanced), restrict the number of attempts for aspirants, and ensure that NTA operates its own examination centres.
"The May 2026 exam was cancelled only in the interest of the aspirants who had worked very hard for it", he added.
The turnout this year is extremely high. "Out of the 22.79 students who had registered, nearly 22.05 had appeared for the exam,” the DG said.
"The rescheduling of the exams and the logistics involved poses massive inconvenience to the parents and students", he conceded.
“It is a massive logistical challenge for the NTA too, considering the lakhs of question papers that need to be transported safely across the country. We wanted to be fair to the students and so decided to cancel the exam,” Singh added.
