India's CJP protests: Why tech alone won't stop exam paper leaks

**India's Exam Leak Crisis: Beyond Technology to Trust and Governance**

Nationwide protests erupted in July over persistent exam question paper leaks in India, raising a critical question: can transitioning the country's largest entrance examinations from traditional pen-and-paper to computer-based formats finally halt this seemingly endless cycle of breaches?

The urgency of this issue intensified following weeks of demonstrations concerning the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) medical entrance exam. These protests ultimately led to the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Grieving families of over 20 students who died by suicide attribute these tragic deaths to the exam scandal.

In response, Prime Minister Narendra Modi established an expert task force, led by Nandan Nilekani of the Indian IT giant Infosys, to reform the National Testing Agency (NTA), which administers the exam. Modi advocates for shifting these tests to computer-based testing (CBT) as a means to enhance their security.

**The Threat to India's Youth**

While the Supreme Court welcomed the government's reform efforts during petition hearings, it cautioned that CBT alone would not eradicate the risk of exam paper leaks. This warning encapsulates the core challenge for the task force: can technology truly resolve what is fundamentally a problem rooted in trust, governance, and incentives?

The contrasting NEET paper leaks of 2024 and 2026 highlight the complexity beyond simply digitizing exams. NEET utilizes four versions of its question paper, each comprising 180 mandatory questions across physics, chemistry, and biology.

Kahaan Patel, 17, was one of more than 20 students whose families attributed their suicides to exam paper leaks.

The leaks occurred at different stages of the examination process. In 2024, the paper was allegedly compromised after printing, when sealed trunks were opened during their transport to exam centers. Investigators indicated a limited breach, involving approximately 40-50 individuals. The Supreme Court affirmed the exam's overall integrity, dismissing calls for a re-test.

Conversely, the 2026 leak reportedly happened before the paper left the NTA, with teachers accused of leaking it from within the system. Officials maintain that printing, transport, and distribution safeguards remained intact, suggesting the vulnerability originated at the source, prior to the secure chain of custody.

Professor V Kamakoti, director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and a task force member, believes these two incidents reveal where trust in an examination system ultimately resides.

"The roots of trust lie in two places: the teachers who set the question papers and the invigilators who supervise candidates. If either is compromised, the system is vulnerable," he explained to the BBC.

Officials have proposed extensive CCTV surveillance with live feeds monitored from central control rooms. Kamakoti suggests that AI could further enhance security by automatically flagging suspicious behavior, such as prolonged conversations between invigilators and candidates, enabling real-time intervention. "At least the invigilator part we can certainly handle," he stated.

However, he contends that the most significant security advancement lies in moving exams online. Computer-based testing, he argues, would make India's examinations considerably more secure. "Compromising the technology would be extremely difficult," he asserted, citing over a decade of experience in conducting large-scale computer-based examinations.

IIT Madras, which manages Swayam, the Indian government's online learning platform, possesses extensive experience in administering large-scale computer-based examinations, including the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and the advanced Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), both prerequisites for admission to the nation's top engineering colleges.

Kamakoti explains that these systems employ "red teaming," where teams constantly probe for weaknesses, and "air-gapped" networks, which are physically isolated from the internet. "No one can hack into that network," he affirmed. "The systems are designed to withstand technical failures. If a computer crashes or power fails, the timer pauses automatically and resumes on another machine."

Yet, even the most secure technology cannot eliminate the human element. For Kamakoti, this is where the examination system's "root of trust" lies. "The biggest challenge is to get trusted question setters," he emphasized.

Preparing a NEET paper is a complex undertaking. The exam is conducted in 13 languages, including English, making it one of the world's largest multilingual entrance examinations. It requires subject experts, translators, reviewers, and moderators. Kamakoti estimates that approximately 50 individuals may be involved in setting the papers. "If even one person in that entire set is compromised, we are gone," he warned.

Computer-based testing eliminates a major vulnerability by removing the need to print, transport, and store millions of question papers.

Many students express a complete loss of trust in India's examination system.

So, why hasn't NEET already transitioned to digital? Kamakoti explains that NEET has remained a paper-based exam, where answers are shaded on machine-readable answer sheets, because it is conducted in a single session for all candidates to ensure fairness. India can currently accommodate only about 300,000 candidates in one computer-based testing session, significantly short of NEET's 2.2 million test-takers. "Moving to CBT would therefore require either a massive expansion of testing capacity or conducting the exam over multiple sessions," he noted.

However, not everyone believes that moving online is, by itself, the complete solution. Dr. Debananda Misra from the School of Public Policy, IIT Delhi, agrees that CBT can substantially reduce opportunities for paper leaks. Nevertheless, he believes the discussion risks becoming overly focused on technology.

"CBT is not a silver bullet," he told the BBC. "It can strengthen exam security and improve efficiency, but it does not address the deeper incentives that drive malpractice."

These incentives are formidable. Nearly two million students took NEET this year, with over half qualifying. However, the heavily subsidized government medical colleges, where a complete medical degree can cost less than 30,000 rupees (approximately $313; £235), have space for fewer than 6% of those who qualify – or under 3% of all test-takers. Candidates who miss out often face private college fees ranging into tens or even hundreds of thousands of rupees.

Investigators suggest that this scarcity has fueled increasingly sophisticated paper-leak rackets, involving teachers, middlemen, and exam-center staff. While computer-based testing closes some of these vulnerabilities, it also creates new ones.

Misra points out that even relatively minor technical failures can impact candidates in ways that are difficult to quantify. "A non-functional mouse is not just about pausing the timer," he said. "It is also about disruption to concentration."

He also expresses concerns about equity. He argues that success in CBT increasingly depends not only on subject knowledge but also on digital familiarity and opportunities to practice in simulated testing environments. These advantages remain unevenly distributed and may favor students attending coaching institutes over those from less-resourced schools.

More fundamentally, Misra contends that India's examination system places too much weight on a single test. "As long as a single test determines access to scarce opportunities, there will be strong incentives for exam malpractice, regardless of the testing format," he asserted.

Misra advocates for stronger governance within examination agencies through tighter procedures, regular audits, greater accountability, and stricter enforcement. He also suggests using multiple equivalent question papers allocated randomly, or localized papers, to prevent a breach in one location from compromising an entire national examination.

Over time, he believes India should also reduce its reliance on "single, high-stakes entrance tests" by creating multiple assessment opportunities and broader pathways into higher education. "If the purpose is to generate a ranked list and match students to institutions," he said, "perhaps we should also think about creating greater diversity on both sides."

Modi has repeatedly pledged to crack down on exam fraud. Since 2023, he has promised that the "paper-leak mafia" would be "held accountable," stated that those "playing with the future of young people will not be spared," and insisted the government was acting on a "war footing" to stop leaks.

Following the 2024 paper leak, his government appointed a high-level committee led by a former space agency chief. This committee produced the most comprehensive review of India's examination system to date. However, only about 57% of its more than 100 recommendations have reportedly been implemented, and paper leaks continue to plague exams.

There is limited time to overhaul India's exam system. The country's annual entrance exam season for engineering, medicine, universities, and postgraduate admissions commences in December and runs through May or June. Kamakoti states that any significant changes must be finalized within the next month or two to be ready for the upcoming cycle.

Ultimately, the task force's success will be measured not by the number of exams moved online, but by whether students regain their belief in the fairness of the system.