Guwahati: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has removed over 50 employees and opened recruitment for specialised professionals as part of a major restructuring of its examination system following errors in three UGC-NET papers.
The action came shortly after the agency announced fresh examinations for the English, Commerce and Sociology papers of the UGC-NET June 2026 cycle. The retest decision has sparked protests by student groups and intensified opposition and criticism, with some organisations renewing their demand for the NTA to be disbanded.
Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi reviewed the situation on Monday with the Higher Education Secretary, NTA Director General, and other senior officials. The Education Ministry said the meeting focused on the recent examination problems and measures being introduced to strengthen the agency’s functioning.
As part of the restructuring, the NTA has advertised 10 senior professional positions, including Chief Technology Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Security Officer, General Manager for test security and General Manager for research and development and psychometrics.
The agency is also seeking specialists from the private sector in areas including cybersecurity, psychometrics and question-paper development.
Joshi has instructed officials to strictly follow examination protocols and undertake a complete overhaul of the NTA’s confidential operations. The review will cover secure examination rooms, air-gapped computer systems and protocols for handling electronic devices.
The ministry has further directed the NTA to carry out a comprehensive examination-process audit and submit a report outlining the corrective steps taken.
The restructuring followed complaints regarding mistakes in three UGC-NET papers. After reviewing the representations, an NTA-appointed committee found anomalies in the English, Commerce and Sociology question papers and recommended that the affected examinations be conducted again.
The revised schedule places the English and Commerce examinations on September 9, followed by the Sociology paper on September 10.
The UGC-NET June 2026 examination was conducted from June 22 to 30 across 87 subjects. The test determines eligibility for junior research fellowships and assistant professorships and is also used for admission to PhD programmes.
The NTA said the decision to hold fresh tests was based on an assessment of the complaints and identified defects, rather than allowing the disputed papers to remain unchanged. The agency maintained that responding transparently to examination irregularities was essential to safeguarding candidates’ interests and maintaining accountability.
The decision has nevertheless drawn strong opposition from political parties and student organisations.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the government over the functioning of the examination system, describing it as an “extraction machine” and arguing that NTA officials should also face accountability. He also linked the issue to the earlier NEET-UG paper leak controversy and said accountability should not end with the resignation of former Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
In Delhi, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) held demonstrations and announced further protests against the retest.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) also expressed concern, with its national general secretary Virendra Singh Solanki stressing that students should not bear the consequences of examination failures and demanding accountability within the NTA.
Several other Congress leaders attacked the government over what they described as recurring problems within the examination agency. The Aam Aadmi Party similarly argued that the latest issue could not be dismissed as a minor mistake, pointing to the financial, academic and personal costs faced by affected candidates.
The NTA, meanwhile, acknowledged that an examination body handling tests on such a large scale can encounter difficulties but said its credibility depends on detecting problems, accepting responsibility and taking timely corrective action.
The agency’s latest reforms are intended to strengthen examination security, bring in specialised expertise and reduce the possibility of similar errors in future.