NEET Fiasco and Centralized Exams: Was the NTA Set Up to Fail?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government created the National Testing Agency (NTA) in 2017 with a one-size-fits-all approach, which has become a nightmare for thousands of students. The agency’s inefficiency was highlighted by numerous allegations of question paper leaks before the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate medical courses on May 5. The situation worsened on June 4 when the results for 24 lakh candidates were announced, leading to a series of events where the NTA had to cancel and postpone other major exams. This revealed the agency’s inability to ensure educational access for many students. However, warning signs were present since the NTA’s inception.

The BJP government argued that having a single agency to conduct exams would help reduce corruption, prevent unauthorized admissions, and simplify the process for students seeking university enrollment. Incidents of question paper leaks, police complaints, and the focus on NEET as a single national test for medical admissions supported the government’s narrative. Prakash Javadekar, the then Union Minister for Human Resources Development (now called the Ministry of Education), stated that the NTA was created to allow the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to concentrate solely on board exams.

In India, autonomous bodies like the NTA can be established in two ways: either by an Act of Parliament or state Assembly, or by a Cabinet decision followed by registration under the Societies Registration Act.

The NTA was registered in 2018 under the Societies Registration Act with Cabinet approval, bypassing Parliament. By setting up the NTA in this way, the Union government has been accused of undermining the autonomy of states, as education has been a contentious issue between states and the Union government since Independence.