India's high-stakes exam system faces a crisis of trust

India's high-pressure exam system is confronting a trust crisis

In 2017, India set up the National Testing Agency (NTA) to run examinations that would be fair, transparent and standardised.

Created under the federal education ministry, it was intended to make exams more efficient, consistent and reliable after years marked by paper leaks, administrative mistakes and accusations of cheating.

In the years that followed, the agency was put in charge of some of India’s biggest and most competitive tests, including medical and engineering entrance exams, university admissions, and eligibility tests for teaching and research.

Yet eight years on, the body established to rebuild confidence in India’s exams is dealing with a confidence crisis of its own.

In June, more than two million students were forced to sit a crucial medical entrance exam again after the paper was leaked. The backlash sparked weeks of youth-led demonstrations that ultimately ended with the federal education minister resigning.

The government then formed a high-level task force headed by tech tycoon Nandan Nilekani to suggest reforms and help restore faith in the examination system.

For many Indians, though, the move felt familiar.

A comparable panel was created in 2024 after irregularities in another medical entrance exam triggered widespread anger. That committee recommended more than 100 reforms, a little over half of which, external have reportedly been fully implemented.

The pattern has kept repeating: an exam fails, students protest, a committee is set up and reforms are proposed - only for another crisis to reveal the same weaknesses.

Experts interviewed by the BBC say the issues run deeper than paper leaks, ranging from the NTA’s accountability and capacity to exam centralisation, design and whether India’s high-stakes testing model needs to be reconsidered.

More than two million students appeared for the NEET-UG retest

BJ Rao, who served on the 2024 panel and now heads SGT University near Delhi, says India should move more decisively toward computer-based exams to reduce the risk of paper leaks, improve efficiency and cut human involvement wherever possible.

"Digital connectivity has vastly improved across the country, what we need to do is put in resources and focus on upgrading infrastructure and move to computer-based exams," he told the BBC.

"We currently have ad hoc centres for conducting exams. We need to replace them with standardised state-controlled online centres."

But, he says, technology by itself will not fix the issue.

Rao points to the NTA’s dependence on contract workers: only 24 of its 221 employees are permanent, while many come from bureaucratic backgrounds, according to the government.

"When you have a large portion of people who work on a temporary basis then there is no sense of belonging, and that has an impact on the functions as well. You need people who are well-versed in academia and experienced in conducting such assessments to ensure better management and oversight," he explains.

Some experts say the repeated crises have revealed weaknesses not just in exam administration, but in exam design itself.

Keshav Aggarwal, an educationist and president of Educators Federation, says the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG - whose paper leak led to this year’s protests - could be redesigned on the model of the country’s engineering entrance exam, which is computer-based and held in two stages.

Instead of depending on one high-stakes test day, he says the exams could be spread across several sessions with different question sets.

"Different stages and days with varying sets of questions" would lower the risks tied to any single exam and make the system more resilient to disruption, Aggarwal says.

Experts also question whether an annual exam is suitable when millions are competing for a limited number of university seats.

India needs a system in which students can take major entrance exams more than once a year, as happens in some western countries, said Yamini Aiyar, senior visiting fellow at Brown University.

"This would give students another chance if an exam is cancelled or they do not perform well, reducing the risk of losing an entire year," she says.

For millions of Indian students, that risk is very real. Many spend years preparing and tens of thousands of rupees on private coaching. A leaked, cancelled or delayed exam can suddenly derail months or years of effort.

Pari, 17, faced that uncertainty directly. After taking NEET this year, she had to sit it again after the original exam was cancelled following a paper leak.

"It was very frustrating. All our preparation had gone to waste, and we had to start all over again," she said.

The experience left her angry at the repeated exam failures.

"The government can form as many panels as it likes. We need a system strong enough to prevent paper leaks from happening again."

Mansi Bansal, 23, has a similar experience. She spent months preparing for UGC-NET, a qualification for entry-level college teaching jobs.

The exam was cancelled after a 2024 paper leak and again this year after the NTA cited errors in three subjects.

Bansal took the affected commerce paper and will retest on 9 September.

"I put my life on hold all these months, stopping going to the gym, hanging out with friends or even attending family gatherings," she said. "I had planned my entire year but now it has all gone into uncertainty. Can the government promise a leak won't happen again?"

Such stories have intensified demands from student activists and opposition politicians to abolish the NTA entirely.

Educationists say scrapping the agency would not address the root problem.

The NTA needs major structural reform to fix recurring failures, but abolishing it is not the solution, said M Jagadesh Kumar, former chairman of India's universities regulator.

"A single national testing body offers common security standards, technology, candidate services and result procedures. Creating many new agencies could duplicate costs and produce uneven safeguards," he told PTI news agency.

Rao agrees.

"It is not a case of all bad news. The body has conducted several exams successfully, where we did not hear of any leaks," he said.

What is needed, he argues, is a statutory institution staffed by specialists with the academic, technical and operational expertise to manage a secure examination system.

Still, for some experts, the discussion goes beyond the NTA itself.

Aiyar says the larger question is not only how to stop the next paper leak, but whether a highly centralised testing system can handle the fierce competition for limited educational opportunities.

The NTA may be able to make exams more secure, she says. "But it cannot, at least on its own, change a system in which millions of students compete for a limited number of seats and a single exam can shape their future."

Some experts say reform must extend beyond the NTA itself: India needs an exam system that relies less on one-off, high-stakes tests, gives students multiple chances and can better withstand disruptions.

Rao remains hopeful that the Nilekani-led task force will help close gaps in the current system.

But for many students, yet another committee brings little comfort unless it leads to changes they can actually see.

"I am studying for my university entrance examination next year," said a 16-year-old Grade 12 student.

"In my head I am prepared that there might be a leak. But what can we do about it? I will prepare and hope for the best."