NTA to not hold recruitment exams; will be restructured in 2025: Dharmendra Pradhan

NEW DELHI: In a major move, the Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced that the National Testing Agency ((NTA) will not hold any recruitment exams starting 2025 and will only focus on higher education entrance exams such as JEE Main, NEET. The decision has been made as per the high-level committee set up earlier this year following alleged paper leaks.

The education ministry set up a high-level committee, headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Radhakrishnan, to file its report on exam reforms after reviewing the National Testing Agency's functioning. The expert panel was set up after the NEET UG 2024 paper leak and a series of exam cancellations due to alleged glitches and paper leaks.

The NTA will be restructured next year and at least 10 new posts will be created with the introduction of various changes in the functioning of the NTA to ensure zero-error and transparent exam, the minister said. Other members of the expert panel includes Randeep Guleria, B J Rao, Ramamurthy K, Pankaj Bansal, Aditya Mittal and Govind Jaiswal.

Also read National Testing Agency exam count dropped by over 50% in 2024; lowest in 5 years

NEET UG, CUET 2025

The ministry is also in conversation with the health ministry about whether the NEET exam should be conducted in traditional pen-and-paper based mode or switch to a computer-based-test (CBT). "NTA will be limited to conducting only entrance exams for higher education and will not conduct any recruitment exams from next year," Pradhan said during a press conference.

The minister also clarified that the Common University Entrance Test Undergraduate (CUET UG) will continue to be conducted once a year. "The government is looking at moving to computer adaptive test and technology-driven entrance exams in the near future," he said.