Delay in NTA exam payments due to ‘late submission’ of bills, education ministry tells Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has paid the remuneration to examination functionaries engaged for conducting different examinations as per the rates, the union education ministry informed Lok Sabha on Monday, the start of the winter session of parliament.

The ministry added that the “delay” in settlement was due to the “late submission” of bills and claims by the functionaries.

The response from the ministry was to a question by Karakat, Bihar MP Raja Ram Singh. Careers360 was the first to report about the delay in payment of dues to the NTA exam co-ordinators, which ran into lakhs, in September this year.

Several exam functionaries countered the claim about the “late submission” saying it is not true and that even payments for exams conducted in 2023 are still pending. All claims were filed within the time given, they maintained.

Exams for which the National Testing Agency still owes coordinators include the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET UG) for medical colleges and the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for central universities and other participating institutions.

Education ministry on NTA bills

Singh had asked four sets of questions to the ministry. He wanted to know whether the NTA had failed to provide the due compensation to the schools, exam coordinators including principals, staff and others for organising CUET and NEET exams, despite the NTA making a profit of Rs 449.21 crore over six years.

He wanted to know the reasons for the funds not being disbursed, whether the government had received any complaints in this regard and what steps were taken by NTA to ensure timely payment of dues.

Apart from the NTA NEET exam and CUET UG, the National Testing Agency also conducts the Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE Main) for engineering, CMAT for management, and others.

When the NTA conducts exams, a school principal is generally selected to become a city coordinator. City coordinators then coordinate with schools and each one appoints observers and other functionaries in order to hold the exams.

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The response from the minister of state for education, Sukanta Majumdar, said: “NTA has informed that remuneration to examination functionaries engaged for conducting different examinations is paid as per the remuneration rates mentioned in the examination guidelines issued by NTA. Advance amount is given to meet expenses related to arrangement of conducting large-scale pen and paper examinations. The remaining amount is disbursed, subject to settlement of bills/claims submitted by institution/examination functionaries.”

On the delay in settlement, Majumdar said, “Delay in settlement of claims in certain cases is due to late submission of bills/claims or non-submission of supporting documents. Complaints/Grievances received for non-payment are addressed by NTA in a time bound manner.”

‘Delay’ claim not true: NTA exam workers

The city co-ordinators who Careers360 spoke to said all the bills and claims were submitted within the stipulated period.

“Our issue has still not been taken up by the NTA. It is a problem of city co-ordinators across the country. Everyday someone or the other has been writing to the NTA seeking for clearance,” said one of the city exam co-ordinators in the northeast.

It is not just the dues for conducting the exam, NTA is known to have not even paid dues for the orientation held in the national capital.

The messages sent to the NTA said, “I have submitted the bills of orientation programme held in April this year but I have received no response from your good office.Is there any chance to get reimbursement this year?”

Another said, “I have paid my own travel expenditures, but still I haven’t received the amount.”

The ministry of education established the NTA in 2017 as an autonomous body that conducts 15 major exams across states throughout the year.

According to data shared with the parliament in August, the NTA exams have fetched the body Rs 3,514 crore in exam fees and Rs 449.21 crore in profits over six years.

NTA had said in the Rajya Sabha that it had earned Rs 3,513.98 crore since its establishment and spent 87.2% of it – Rs 3,064.77 crore – on holding exams.

NTA’s earnings increased by 78% from Rs 490.35 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 873.20 crore in 2022-23, it further increased 22% to Rs 1,065.38 crore in 2023-24 compared to the previous year.