E-Paper
NEET 2027 to be held in Computer Based Test mode: Education min Dharmendra Pradhan
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will “go deep” into the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak matter
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The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate or NEET-UG will be conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) in Computer Based Test (CBT) mode from next year instead of pen paper test (PPT) mode in which students answer the questions in a Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Friday.
In his first statement after NTA on May 12 cancelled NEET-UG 2026 (held on May 3) following paper leak allegations, Pradhan said that candidates will get 15 extra minutes to write their re-examination of NEET on June 21.
He also said that the government is taking responsibility for a “breach in command” despite following recommendations of the Radhakrishnan committee – a seven member committee set up after the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak controversy to strengthen NTA.
Pradhan said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will “go deep” into the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak matter and “no one will be spared this time. No one was spared last time also.”
Also Read: ‘Breach in command chain, we take responsibility’: Govt after NEET paper leak
“Despite implementation of Radhakrishnan committee’s recommendations, this incident occurred. The root cause of this is Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) based examination. From next year, the NEET examination will happen in CBT (Computer-Based Test) mode,” Pradhan said while addressing a press conference at his residence.
Radhakrishnan committee in October 2024 made a “strong case” for moving NEET-UG to computer-based testing — describing it as the “sure way forward” against paper leaks.
NTA director general Abhishek Singh had on Thursday told HT, “We will conduct the exam in CBT mode if the health ministry gives us in writing that they want us to conduct the exam in CBT mode. It will take around 20 shifts to manage around 2.2 million NEET candidates, and we will have to follow the normalisation process to ensure fairness to all students,” he said.
The normalisation process involves adjusting scores to offset difficulty differences across shifts based on relative performance within each session.
NTA had on May 12 cancelled NEET-UG 2026 , a decision that came after at least 120 questions in a “guess paper” were found to overlap with the May 3 examination paper.
Guess paper is a compilation of probable questions prepared by subject experts and teachers based on previous examination trends.
The decision has impacted over 2.2 million students who have been preparing for the exams for months, if not years. NEET NTA will refund the examination fee to students and conduct the re-examination on June 21.
Pradhan said that the admit card for re-examination of NEET will be released by June 14 and students will be given 15 minutes extra time in the June 21 examination.
“Another point was brought up regarding the formalities in the exam, such as signing the OMR sheet at the beginning and the end. This was reducing the core time available to the students. Considering the exam time from 2pm to 5pm, the NTA has decided to extend it by 15 minutes,” he said.
On being asked about possible weakness in security measures for examinations due to International Yoga Day on June 21, Pradhan said, “Yoga Day will be celebrated in the morning and exams will be held at noon. We have fixed the date after due consideration.”
Also Read: How a ‘guess paper’ from Churu led to NEET-UG, India’s biggest entrance test, being cancelled
CBI told a Delhi court on Thursday that the NEET-UG 2026 question paper leak traces back to a source inside the NTA— a claim the court recorded in its order, noting that Shubham Khairnar had obtained the paper from a Pune-based person who had in turn obtained it from his “NTA source”.
CBI has arrested seven persons in the matter so far.
“CBI will investigate the matter thoroughly. CBI is a trustworthy agency, and it will probe matters smoothly,” Pradhan said on being asked about involvement of NTA insiders in the paper leak.
Earlier on May 13, HT first reported that a member of Radhakrishnan panel said, “If a leak occurred, it likely happened upstream- at the higher level question pool stage, within NTA.”
At least two students who appeared in NEET-UG 2026 – one in Goa and one in Uttar Pradesh – died by suicide after paper cancellation.
“I have no words to explain the loss of precious lives. It is our responsibility that such incidents do not occur in future,” Pradhan said.
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