For nearly a decade, India's National Testing Agency has carried the weight of a nation's educational hopes, tasked with bringing order to a system long plagued by leaks and mistrust. Yet the June cancellation of a medical entrance exam affecting over two million students — the latest in a recurring cycle of crisis, inquiry, and incomplete reform — reveals that centralising power without building institutional depth may only concentrate vulnerability rather than eliminate it. The question India now faces is not merely how to secure an exam, but whether a system in which a single test can deter
India's exam crisis deepens as NTA reforms fail to restore student trust
Millions of students face disrupted education and wasted preparation; some delay university entry or career progression due to exam cancellations and leaks.
In my head I am prepared that there might be a leak.
Mark
So the NTA was supposed to fix India's exam problems. What went wrong?
Mimi
The agency was set up in 2017 to bring security and consistency to high-stakes tests. But eight years later, it's facing the same crises it was meant to prevent—paper leaks, cancellations, millions of students disrupted. In June alone, a leaked medical exam forced over two million students to retake it.
Luke
And this isn't the first time. A 2024 reform panel proposed over 100 changes after a similar crisis. Only about half were implemented. So we're not just seeing operational failures—we're seeing a pattern of proposed fixes that don't stick.
Mark
Why does the NTA keep failing?
Mimi
Experts point to several problems. The agency has only 24 permanent staff out of 221 employees. Most work on contract, many without academic backgrounds. There's no institutional continuity or ownership. And the broader system—one high-stakes annual exam for millions competing for limited seats—may be fundamentally fragile.
Luke
That's important to separate: the NTA's internal problems versus the system it operates within. You can fix staffing and security, but if the entire model depends on a single test day, you're still vulnerable.
Mark
What would actually solve this?
Mimi
Experts suggest moving to computer-based exams to reduce paper leaks. Hiring permanent, specialist staff. Running exams across multiple sessions with different questions. And allowing students to retake entrance exams multiple times a year instead of once.
Luke
Those are structural changes, not just operational tweaks. But here's the gap: we don't know if the Nilekani task force will actually implement them, or if they'll face the same implementation problem as the 2024 panel.
Mark
What do students want?
Mimi
They want the government to prevent leaks from happening again. But many have lost faith. Some have spent years preparing, spent thousands on tuition, only to have exams cancelled or leaked. It's not just wasted time—it's disrupted their entire life plans.
Luke
And that's the human cost that's hard to quantify. We know two million students had to retake an exam. But we don't have a full picture of how many students have delayed university entry, changed career plans, or simply given up because of repeated disruptions.
Mark
Should India just scrap the NTA?
Mimi
Educationists say no. A single national body offers consistent security standards and shared infrastructure. Creating multiple agencies could duplicate costs and create uneven safeguards. But it needs fundamental reform—permanent staff, better design, maybe a less centralised approach.
Luke
The real question underneath all this is whether any single testing agency can handle the pressure of millions of students competing for limited seats. That's a systemic problem, not just an NTA problem.
The Pulse
- A leaked medical entrance exam in June forced two million students to retake the test, triggering youth-led protests and the resignation of the federal education minister.
- The crisis exposed a dangerously hollow institution: of the NTA's 221 employees, only 24 hold permanent posts, leaving the agency staffed largely by temporary contractors with bureaucratic rather than academic backgrounds.
- A reform panel convened in 2024 proposed over 100 changes, but fewer than half were implemented — and now a second high-level task force has been appointed, deepening fears that the cycle of crisis and inaction will simply repeat.
- Students like Pari, 17, and Mansi Bansal, 23, have lost months or years of preparation to cancellations, with some delaying careers and putting their personal lives entirely on hold.
- Experts are pushing for computer-based exams, multiple testing sessions, and year-round retake options to reduce the catastrophic risk of a single compromised test — but structural reform, not just operational fixes, is seen as essential.
For nearly a decade, India's National Testing Agency has carried the weight of a nation's educational hopes, tasked with bringing order to a system long plagued by leaks and mistrust. Yet the June cancellation of a medical entrance exam affecting over two million students — the latest in a recurring cycle of crisis, inquiry, and incomplete reform — reveals that centralising power without building institutional depth may only concentrate vulnerability rather than eliminate it. The question India now faces is not merely how to secure an exam, but whether a system in which a single test can determine a young person's entire future is one that can ever be made truly just.
India established the National Testing Agency in 2017 with a clear mandate: end the cycle of paper leaks and administrative failures that had long undermined public trust in high-stakes examinations. Eight years later, the NTA finds itself at the centre of the very crisis it was built to prevent.
In June, a leaked medical entrance exam forced more than two million students to retake the test. The fallout was swift — weeks of protests, a minister's resignation, and the appointment of a new task force led by tech entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani. For many Indians, the pattern felt grimly familiar. A nearly identical panel had been convened in 2024 after similar irregularities. That committee proposed over 100 reforms. Fewer than half were implemented. The cycle had simply repeated itself.
Experts point to problems far deeper than operational lapses. Of the NTA's 221 employees, only 24 hold permanent positions — the rest work on contract, many with bureaucratic rather than academic backgrounds. BJ Rao, who served on the 2024 reform panel, argues this structural hollowness breeds institutional indifference. He advocates for computer-based exams to reduce human vulnerability, but acknowledges that technology alone cannot fix an agency lacking stable expertise.
Others question the model itself. Educationist Keshav Aggarwal proposes running major entrance exams across multiple sessions with different question sets. Yamini Aiyar of Brown University goes further, arguing India should allow students to sit exams multiple times throughout the year — as is standard in many Western countries — so that a single cancelled or compromised test does not cost a student an entire year.
For students, the stakes are brutally real. Pari, 17, had her medical exam cancelled after a paper leak. "All our preparation had gone to waste," she said. Mansi Bansal, 23, preparing for a teaching qualification, has endured two cancellations in as many years. "I put my life on hold all these months," she said. "I had planned my entire year but now it has all gone into uncertainty."
Calls to abolish the NTA entirely have grown louder, but educationists caution that scrapping the agency would not resolve the underlying structural failures. What is needed, most agree, is deep reform — a statutory institution staffed by permanent specialists with genuine academic expertise. Yet as Aiyar observes, even a reformed NTA cannot alone change a system in which millions of students compete for a limited number of seats and a single exam can shape their entire future. A student preparing for university next year captured the prevailing mood plainly: "In my head I am prepared that there might be a leak. But what can we do about it? I will prepare and hope for the best."
India created the National Testing Agency in 2017 with a clear mandate: restore faith in a testing system corroded by paper leaks, administrative bungling, and cheating. For years, the agency managed some of the country's most consequential exams—medical and engineering entrance tests, university admissions, teaching qualifications—with the promise that centralisation would bring efficiency, consistency, and security. Eight years later, the NTA finds itself at the centre of the very crisis it was designed to prevent.
In June, a leaked medical entrance exam forced more than two million students to retake the test. The fallout was swift and severe: weeks of youth-led protests, the resignation of the federal education minister, and the appointment of a high-level task force led by tech entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani to recommend systemic reforms. For many Indians watching this unfold, the pattern felt grimly familiar. A nearly identical panel had been convened in 2024 after irregularities in another medical entrance exam sparked similar unrest. That committee had proposed more than 100 reforms. Fewer than half were fully implemented. The cycle—crisis, protest, committee, proposals, inaction, crisis again—had simply repeated itself.
Experts who spoke with the BBC identified problems that run far deeper than operational lapses. BJ Rao, who served on the 2024 reform panel and now heads SGT University near Delhi, points to the NTA's staffing structure as a fundamental weakness. Of the agency's 221 employees, just 24 hold permanent positions. The rest work on contract, many with bureaucratic rather than academic backgrounds. "When you have a large portion of people who work on a temporary basis then there is no sense of belonging, and that has an impact on the functions as well," Rao explained. He argues for a shift toward computer-based examinations, which would reduce human involvement and the vulnerability to paper leaks. But technology alone cannot fix an institution that lacks stable, specialist expertise.
Other experts question whether the NTA's model itself—a single, high-stakes annual test for millions of students competing for limited university places—can ever be made secure enough. Keshav Aggarwal, an educationist and president of the Educators Federation, suggests restructuring major entrance exams like NEET-UG to run across multiple sessions with different question sets, mirroring the approach used for engineering entrance tests. Yamini Aiyar, a senior visiting fellow at Brown University, goes further: India should allow students to sit for entrance exams multiple times throughout the year, as is standard in many Western countries. This would give students a safety net if an exam is cancelled or they perform poorly, reducing the catastrophic risk of losing an entire year to a single failed or compromised test.
For students, the stakes are brutally real. Many spend years preparing and tens of thousands of rupees on private tuition. Pari, 17, took NEET this year only to have the exam cancelled after a paper leak. "It was very frustrating. All our preparation had gone to waste, and we had to start all over again," she said. Mansi Bansal, 23, has endured similar disruption. She prepared for months for UGC-NET, a qualification for entry-level college teaching positions. The exam was cancelled in 2024 after a paper leak, then again this year after the NTA cited errors in three subjects. Bansal will retake the commerce paper on September 9. "I put my life on hold all these months, stopping going to the gym, hanging out with friends or even attending family gatherings," she said. "I had planned my entire year but now it has all gone into uncertainty."
These experiences have prompted calls from student activists and opposition politicians to abolish the NTA entirely. But educationists argue that scrapping the agency would not address the underlying structural problems. M Jagadesh Kumar, former chairman of India's universities regulator, contends that a single national testing body offers common security standards, shared technology infrastructure, and consistent candidate services. Creating multiple new agencies could duplicate costs and produce uneven safeguards. Rao agrees: the NTA has successfully conducted numerous exams without incident. What is needed is not abolition but deep structural reform—a statutory institution staffed by permanent specialists with genuine academic and technical expertise.
Yet the debate may ultimately transcend the NTA itself. Aiyar points to a larger systemic problem: a highly centralised testing system straining under intense competition for limited educational opportunities. The NTA may be able to make exams more secure, she says. "But it cannot, at least on its own, change a system in which millions of students compete for a limited number of seats and a single exam can shape their future." Rao remains hopeful that Nilekali's task force will help close gaps in the existing system. But for many students, another committee offers little comfort unless it produces visible, tangible change. A 16-year-old Grade 12 student preparing for university entrance next year summed up the prevailing mood: "In my head I am prepared that there might be a leak. But what can we do about it? I will prepare and hope for the best."
Notable Quotes
When you have a large portion of people who work on a temporary basis then there is no sense of belonging, and that has an impact on the functions as well.— BJ Rao, head of SGT University and member of 2024 reform panel
The NTA may be able to make exams more secure. But it cannot, at least on its own, change a system in which millions of students compete for a limited number of seats and a single exam can shape their future.— Yamini Aiyar, senior visiting fellow at Brown University
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