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First Principles IAS · Current affairs

The monthly magazine, October 2026 · Social Issues › School and higher education

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Parliamentary panel wants NEET on screen after the leak, but the risk only changes shape

LeadPrelims and Mains31 Oct 2026

Why in news

  • In October 2026 the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education tabled a report on reforming the National Testing Agency after the leak of the NEET-UG paper. The committee's main recommendation is to move NEET-UG and the other large entrance tests to computer based testing.
  • A former civil servant who has run examinations argues that a screen changes the kind of risk rather than removing it, and backs the hybrid model the Radhakrishnan committee proposed in 2024.

Background

  • The Ministry of Education set up the National Testing Agency in 2017 as a registered society to conduct entrance tests. The Agency runs NEET-UG for medical admission, JEE Main for engineering and CUET for central universities. NEET-UG alone draws more than 22 lakh candidates, who sit a pen and paper test on one day.
  • After the leak of 2024, the Radhakrishnan committee recommended a hybrid model, and the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 made leaks a crime. The July Lead described the 2026 amendment that made that law stricter.
  • The 2026 leak was upstream: it came from subject experts whom the Agency had appointed, before any paper reached a centre.
Paper or screen: two models for NEET-UG After the 2026 leak. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education reported in October 2026. The parliamentary panel: computer based testing Questions delivered in encrypted form to secure centres. No printed paper to store or move. Large question banks generate randomised sets. Computer adaptive testing, so no two candidates get the same paper. Many sessions, so scores must be normalised. The panel wants the method audited and explained in advance. An in house cyber security team, not unverified private vendors. The Radhakrishnan committee: hybrid model An encrypted paper is printed at the centre on the morning of the test and answered on an optical mark sheet. One session for every candidate. No normalisation. Needs no special centres, so it can run at NEET's scale now. Removes the paper's journey, which is where leaks happened. Cannot stop a leak by the people who set the paper. Scale and trust Secure computer based capacity is about 1.5 lakh candidates a shift. NEET-UG has over 22 lakh candidates. 474 court cases involve the National Testing Agency, 69 of them in the Supreme Court.
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Why NEET-UG does not fit on a screen today The scale problem behind the parliamentary committee's recommendation, October 2026. over 22 lakh NEET-UG candidates A pen and paper test on one day. about 1.5 lakh Secure computer based capacity, a shift What India can seat on screen at one time. 15 or more Shifts over several days a screen based NEET would need Brings question harvesting between shifts and normalisation into a test where a single mark decides a seat. 474 Court cases involving the Agency 69 of them in the Supreme Court. The contrast JEE Main already runs on screen. Its candidates accept sessions and normalisation. A rank sensitive, single day test for 22 lakh people is a different problem.
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Where an exam paper can leak, and which fix guards which stage Colour marks the format exposed at each stage: paper, screen, or every format. The fix is in the lower block. 1 Setting Every format Subject experts write the paper. The 2026 leak began here, before any paper reached a centre. No format prevents it. Fix: vet the setters. Content from institutions such as the IITs and AIIMS. 2 Print and move Paper The printed paper is stored and moved. The 2024 leak. Fix: encrypted delivery. The centre prints on the morning of the test, the hybrid model. 3 The centre Paper A local leak: one centre or one district. Fix: secure centres. 4 The screen Screen A central digital breach can touch every centre at once, as the JEE Main case of 2021 showed. Fix: an in house cyber security team. A registry to bar compromised vendors. 5 Scoring Screen Several sessions need normalisation, in a test where a single mark decides a medical seat. Fix: have the method audited independently and explained in advance.
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What the committee recommends

The paper

  • Deliver question papers through hybrid encrypted channels until the test begins, so that no printed paper needs storing or moving.
  • Build large question banks that generate randomised sets, and move to computer adaptive testing, in which no two candidates get the same paper. Keep an in house cyber security team rather than rely on unverified private vendors.

The scoring

  • Get an independent auditor to check the method of normalising scores across sessions, and publish it before the test.

The people

  • Keep a national registry to bar compromised vendors, and check paper setters for links to coaching firms. Let institutions such as the IITs and AIIMS set most of the content.

The outcomes

  • Run an annual equity audit of pass rates by State, gender, board and social category.

The case against the screen

  • Scale. India's secure computer based capacity is a small fraction of NEET-UG's 22 lakh candidates, as the first figure shows.

The risk changes shape.

  • A paper leak is usually local. A central digital breach can touch every centre at once.
  • The second figure maps each stage and the fix that guards it.
  • The hybrid model keeps the paper but removes the journey: the centre prints an encrypted paper on the morning of the test and candidates answer on an optical mark sheet. The model needs no special centres and keeps one session.
  • The Agency itself is the weak point: a registered society with a thin permanent staff that outsources most of its work. A stronger institution matters more than the medium of the test.

Analysis

  • The committee answers the wrong leak. The 2026 breach was at the setting stage. Encryption, randomised sets and vendor registries protect the paper only after it is set. The report's useful parts are the ones about people: background checks on setters, content from institutions rather than freelancers, and a public record of leaks.
  • Scale is the constraint. Computer based testing works for JEE Main because candidates accept its sessions and normalisation. A rank sensitive, single day test for 22 lakh people is a different problem.
  • Trust is the real asset. The 474 court cases against the Agency show that candidates no longer believe the process. An audited normalisation method, published in advance, and an equity audit would do more for trust than any technology.

The way forward

  • Adopt the hybrid model for NEET-UG now, and build secure computer capacity before moving any single day test to the screen.
  • Make the Agency a statutory body with a permanent professional staff and a duty to report to both Houses of Parliament, as the committee wants.
  • Compensate candidates when a test is cancelled.

Exam lens

  • Prelims:
    • National Testing Agency: set up 2017 as a registered society under the Ministry of Education.
    • Conducts NEET-UG, JEE Main and CUET.
    • Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, made stricter by the 2026 amendment.
    • Radhakrishnan committee, 2024: the hybrid model.
    • Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education report, October 2026: computer based testing.
    • Computer adaptive testing: no two candidates get the same paper. Normalisation: one scale across sessions.
  • Mains: "Repeated paper leaks have damaged trust in national entrance examinations." Can computer based testing restore it? Examine with reference to the parliamentary committee's recommendations on the National Testing Agency.

Asked before: Mains 2024 GS2

Show the questions
  1. Mains 2024 GS2: What are the aims and objects of recently passed and enforced, The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024? Whether University/State Education Board examinations, too, are covered under the Act?

Connects to

Sources
  • The Hindu, 9 October 2026
  • The Indian Express, 12 October 2026
  • Frontline, 16 October 2026

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.

Filed under: School and higher education · The monthly magazine, October 2026