After the NEET UG 2026 paper leak devolved into a row and the political heat went up a notch, Union Minister Prahlad Joshi said on Saturday that the Centre is preparing sweeping reforms in the examination system of the country. He signalled a shift towards technology-driven tests in the near future.
Union Minister Prahlad Joshi
Minister Joshi’s remarks come just weeks before the NEET UG 2026 re-test, which was necessitated after allegations of question paper leaks and irregularities triggered outrage among students and parents across the nation. While addressing the media, Joshi said, “The government is very serious about that. The reforms are needed, we are bringing them, but they cannot be done within a year. By next year, technology-driven examinations will be there.”
Govt defends decision to scrap the test
The controversy surrounding the pan-India medical entrance exam has continued to dominate political discourse after the National Testing Agency (NTA) officials informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee that the paper had not been leaked in its entirety.
Sources said NTA Director General Abhishek Singh and Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi told the panel that only certain questions had surfaced before the examination and that the breach did not originate from the NTA’s internal systems. Officials familiar with the development said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is persevering in efforts to probe the circulation of leaked questions that ultimately led to the cancellation of the test.
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The officials also defended the decision to scrap the test, emphasising that even a limited compromise of questions could damage public confidence in highly competitive national examinations. They said the move was consistent with the agency’s ‘zero-tolerance’ approach towards malpractice.
NEET’s shift to computer-based mode under consideration
The Parliamentary Standing Committee also reviewed long-term safeguards aimed at preventing potential examination breaches in the future. Among the key proposals discussed was the possibility of conducting the NEET UG exam entirely in the computer-based mode from next year.
Officials informed the committee that several reforms aimed at strengthening the examination process had already been implemented, while work on additional measures was underway.
22L students affected due to NEET UG 2026’s cancellation
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The NEET UG 2026 exam held on May 3, 2026, had been conducted across 551 cities in India and 14 centres overseas. Close to 22 lakh candidates had taken the test.
However, allegations of leaked questions and organised malpractice sparked protests, legal challenges and fierce political attacks against both the examination authorities and the government.
The NTA has scheduled the re-examination for June 21, 2026 under heightened security arrangements mandated by the Union Ministry of Education.