Amid UGC NET row, education minister directs NTA to overhaul operations and security systems

The Union education minister Pralhad Joshi has directed an overhaul of the National Testing Agency (NTA) operations, security systems, and an audit of all exam processes. The education minister’s directive comes after a meeting with the secretary of department of higher education Deepti Gaur Mukerjee, director general, and other senior officials was held.

The education minister has directed a complete overhaul of the confidential operations (CONOPS) architecture of the NTA. Joshi has also ordered that secluded rooms, air-gapped systems, and device-deposit protocols be established.

The minister has also directed NTA to submit a report on corrective action taken.

According to the education ministry’s post on X, the union education minister was told about the steps taken by the testing agency in the wake of recent issues, especially efforts to reform the overall system.

Also read ‘Paper leaks are symptom, NTA is disease’: Students, AISA, SFI demand agency’s scrapping

NTA removes over 50 staff members

During the meeting, the minister was informed of the steps taken by NTA to improve the internal systems.

• More than 50 staff have been removed from NTA.
• Ten new professional leadership positions, including chief technology officer, chief finance officer, CISO, GM, test security, GM, research and development, and psychometrics, and others, have been advertised and are being onboarded.
• Specialists are being onboarded from the private sector for cybersecurity, psychometrics, question-paper design, and other specialised areas.

Errors in NET question papers

NTA has announced the re-exam dates for the UGC NET 2026 English, commerce, and sociology subjects after several factual, typographical, and translation errors were highlighted by the test takers.

NTA constituted a committee to assess the grievances raised by candidates, following which it suggested re-exam for the affected students.

The NTA's decision to hold a re-examination has left students distressed and sparked demands for the agency to be held accountable. Several student groups and aspirants preparing for competitive exams have called for the NTA to be scrapped.

The move aims to revamp the exam system to reinforce the credibility and security of exams conducted by the NTA, in the wake of the NEET UG paper leak and the errors reported by students in the UGC NET exam question papers.