Panel flags NTA staff shortage, moots new question bank system

NTA has 16 of 39 permanent posts vacant, while its DG post remained additional charge for nearly two years, a parliamentary panel report said.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts some of India’s largest entrance examinations, has 16 vacancies among its 39 sanctioned permanent posts, leaving 41% of its core positions unfilled, according to a parliamentary committee report submitted to Rajya Sabha on Friday.

NTA has 16 of 39 permanent posts vacant, while its DG post remained additional charge for nearly two years, a parliamentary panel report said. (HT File Photo)

According to the report, the post of NTA director general (DG) – who manages day-to-day operations – was held in an additional charge by officers with other major responsibilities for nearly two years, from June 2024 to April 2026.

Flagging its dependence on deputation and private contractors, the 31-member Parliament committee on education, women, children, youth and sports, headed by Congress MP Mukul Wasnik, called for in-house expertise in examination security, technology and logistics, and said the agency should eventually handle examination logistics itself.

The panel members met NTA and education ministry officials on May 21, June 1 and July 1, following the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 on May 12 after at least 120 questions in a guess paper – a compilation made by subject experts and teachers of suggested questions, based on previous trends and patterns – were found to be common with the NEET exam paper on May 3.

The committee’s report on NTA reforms also called for a public account of examination irregularities after the education ministry told it that “no paper leak has occurred in an exam conducted by the NTA” between its formation in 2017 and 2025, although there were "malpractice and disruptions." The panel said this assertion was “at variance with the opinion of some Members of the Committee”.

The panel found that NTA’s annual report for 2024-25 recorded 474 court cases, including 69 in the Supreme Court. Of these, 356 were related to NEET-UG 2024. The committee called for public disclosure of examination irregularities and investigations, amid recurring controversies over the conduct of national-level tests.

It recommended UPSC-style transparency in results, a continuously updated question bank and a research wing to reimagine NTA “not just as a body to administer exams but as a think-tank for all matters and policies relating to examinations”.

The committee said all 39 permanent posts at the NTA were filled through deputation, with officers typically serving two to three years. It recommended that the agency “hire its own officers on a permanent basis”, including specialists in psychometrics, examination security, digital infrastructure, data analytics, and logistics, rather than relying on a revolving pool of officials.

Contractual staff on NTA’s payroll increased from 39 in 2023-24 to 76 in 2025-26, while outsourced personnel numbered 136 in 2025-26. The committee said filling posts through the Central Staffing Scheme did not constitute the “deep institutional capacity-building” required, calling for specialists in examination technology, psychometrics and secure logistics. NTA has advertised specialist positions.

The panel said, “Investment in question banks is the most viable defence against paper leaks in the long run”. It proposed drawing questions digitally close to examinations, with final papers vetted by experts who remain under “strict quarantine” until the examination concludes. It recommended involving experts from IITs, AIIMS and IIMs in developing question banks and translations, with checks for conflicts of interest, including links to coaching centres or relatives appearing for examinations.

The panel warned that examinations rewarding familiarity with question patterns and shortcuts, rather than “genuine conceptual understanding”, could deepen socioeconomic inequalities. Students from affluent families, it noted, were better placed to afford expensive coaching, putting others at a disadvantage.

NTA’s ₹590 crore revenue surplus accumulated between 2018-19 and 2024-25, the report said, could be used to upgrade government-owned computer-based testing (CBT) centres and conduct mock examinations. The panel called for a phased transition to CBT backed by a network of 1,000 secure government-run centres, with at least one in every district. It also proposed financial support for IT labs in schools and colleges and mock tests to help students prepare, noting that private centres had “often proved to be a weak link in examination security”.

The committee also called for NTA to refocus on higher-education entrance tests, noting that it continued to conduct recruitment examinations “that are not connected” to admission into higher education institutions. The K Radhakrishnan expert committee had recommended limiting NTA’s mandate to entrance examinations until it demonstrated capacity for additional functions.

HT reported on July 28 that only 57 of the 101 recommendations made by the panel had been fully implemented, with another 10 partially implemented.

Once its digital infrastructure matures, NTA should move towards CBT using computer-adaptive testing, in which artificial intelligence draws questions from a large bank, adapts them to candidates’ aptitude and normalises scores by difficulty.

“There will be no standard question paper that can be leaked,” the report said. However, it flagged hacking risks, citing a CBI-investigated attempt during JEE-Main 2021, and called for an in-house cybersecurity team and AI tools to detect anomalous response patterns.

The committee also recommended exploring reasonable upper-age and attempt limits for major examinations, including NEET-UG, in consultation with the health ministry and other stakeholders. It noted that NEET has neither an upper age limit nor an attempt cap, citing candidates over 70, and suggested that UGC-NET could be exempted.

It also sought adequate state government representation on NTA’s governing body and a research wing staffed by education researchers to study whether NEET, CUET and UGC-NET meet their intended objectives.

Contractual staff increased from 39 in 2023-24 to 76 in 2025-26, while 136 personnel were outsourced that year. The committee said deputation alone could not build the agency’s institutional capacity.

It proposed using NTA’s ₹590-crore revenue surplus to upgrade government-owned computer-based testing centres and establish a network of 1,000 secure centres, at least one in every district. It also recommended mock tests and financial support for school and college IT labs.

The panel urged NTA to focus on higher-education entrance examinations and explore reasonable age and attempt limits for major tests, including NEET-UG. It backed a phased transition to computer-adaptive testing while calling for stronger cybersecurity measures to guard against hacking and manipulation.