Once bitten, twice shy: this saying surely does not apply to the National Testing Agency (NTA). Given the number of times that the Agency has run into trouble in the conduct of common entrance exams, it would have been logical to expect those at the helm to have learnt their lessons. However, this week’s cancellation of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG affecting over 22 lakh students is a serious blow to the agency’s reputation. The NTA, on May 12, 2026, announced the cancellation of the exam held on May 3, amid allegations of paper leak, as the government tasked the CBI with carrying out a comprehensive inquiry. The decision followed investigations revealing that a ‘guess paper’ — a collection of predicted, high-importance questions created to help students prepare — matched numerous questions in chemistry and biology. Media reports said that this material had reached coaching hubs in Rajasthan nearly a month ahead, and had been sold to aspirants for huge sums. This led to investigations by the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group and 15 people were arrested. In the face of such obvious fraud, the NTA maintained the line that the decision to cancel the exam was taken “in the interest of students and in recognition of the trust on which the national examination system rests”. The question though, is: does the NTA still enjoy that trust? NEET has been dogged by controversy right from the start, with several States opposing the format. But even after it was rolled out across the country, the NTA, as the agency conducting the exam, has suffered several dents to its credibility, with various charges and controversies coming up with depressing regularity. This includes the 2019 impersonation scam in Tamil Nadu where students used proxies to write the exam; the 2022 controversy of frisking girl examinees in Kerala, and the 2024 paper leak and grace marks controversy.

The K. Radhakrishnan committee, which was constituted to recommend reforms in the examination process, recommended a restructuring of the NTA, and creating strong institutional linkages with State and district authorities in order to produce a secure test administration apparatus. Among others, it also made recommendations for multi-stage testing, hybrid use of papers and computers, and a series of measures to prevent breaches and malpractices. It would be a crime to allow the NTA to continue with its inept conduct of common entrance exams, impacting the future of several lakhs of students. NEET was introduced as a measure to bring into play a single, standardised, and transparent entrance exam for medical admissions. But the transparency that it has so far shown is of an entirely different kind: leaks and breaches of confidentiality.