NTA Revamps Exams: 600 Experts Removed

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has launched a major structural overhaul to restore trust, plug security loopholes, and eliminate errors in national competitive examinations. Following a follow-up review meeting led by Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi, officials finalized aggressive restructuring measures. The agency is overhauling its examination division, introducing multi-layered paper checks, and relocating its headquarters under high-level security.

NTA Removes 600 Subject Experts from Panel

In its most drastic workforce cleanup yet, NTA removed around 600 subject experts from its examination panel. The agency is bringing in new specialists to rebuild its core content team.

Officials emphasized that this mass removal affects external subject experts, paper reviewers, and test setters associated with exam preparation, rather than regular or sanctioned posts within the NTA's permanent administrative staff structure.

To reinforce administrative and operational capacities, NTA is expanding its team:

Immediate Hiring: Around 20 to 25 senior officials will join the agency within the next two to three weeks.

Long-Term Plan: Authorities are finalizing a broader induction framework to recruit specialized talent continuously.

Four-Tier Scrutiny Introduced to Stop Errors

The decision follows recurring errors in recent national tests, most notably during the UGC-NET June 2026 examination. Wrongly worded questions and factual defects plagued English, Commerce, and Sociology papers, forcing the agency to order subject retests.

To prevent similar failures, NTA is establishing a rigorous four-tier question paper checking system. Under this restructured mechanism:

Every question paper undergoes four distinct levels of checks before final printing and deployment.

The system builds upon existing development phases involving subject specialists, test developers, reviewers, and psychometricians.

Structured, independent reviews verify all questions and answer keys to eliminate factual, grammatical, and formatting flaws.

Office Relocation and CISF Security Deployment

NTA is also executing a physical shift of its offices to new premises on a 'war footing.' This rapid relocation specifically aims to strengthen infrastructure and heighten physical security around sensitive, confidential examination operations.

Key security upgrades include:

CISF Protection: Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel will secure the new NTA headquarters.

Confidentiality Control: Tightened physical protocols will protect confidential material and question paper handling against unauthorized access.

Countering Digital Misinformation: The move follows rising security threats, including past instances in June 2026 where malicious actors manipulated Telegram posts by editing previously published timestamps to fabricate paper leak claims.