The centralised admission process through national entrance tests is designed to curtail institutional autonomy and undermine the quality of higher education, a platform of teacher and student organisations said on Wednesday.
Against the backdrop of the NEET-UG paper leak, the Joint Forum for Movement on Education (JFME) — an umbrella body of 30 teacher and student associations — demanded the dismantling of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and autonomy for institutions to decide their admission policies.
Currently, admissions to government-funded institutions are conducted through centralised entrance tests such as NEET-UG, CUET and JEE. Conducted by the NTA, these exams have been disrupted or cancelled in recent years because of paper leaks and technical glitches. The NEET paper was leaked in 2024, too, while the JEE (Main) paper was leaked in 2021 and the National Eligibility Test (NET) paper in 2024.
Academics and JFME members told reporters here on Wednesday that the NTA was shielded from accountability and CAG audits as it was a registered society, not a statutory body.
Avinash Kumar, secretary of the JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA), cited the example of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), which is conducted in pen-and-paper mode by the national law universities and has never been leaked. “There have been a series of paper leaks in the exams conducted by the NTA. There has been no incident of paper leak in CLAT. This is because the NTA, being a non-statutory body, has no accountability. The CLAT has never been leaked because the reputation of national law universities will be at stake. They want to protect their institutional autonomy,” Kumar said.
He alleged that the NTA was set up in 2018 to politically manipulate the admissions process at institutions.
Prof. Anita Rampal, former dean of the faculty of education at the University of Delhi, said students did not prioritise board exams whose scores get no weightage in admission to UG courses. “Centralised entrance exams are driving students to coaching institutes where they are told that their fellow students are their competitors. This message is against the ethos of education, which is a collective process where children learn together,” Rampal said.
She described as “propaganda” the government’s move to involve the Indian Air Force for the transportation of NEET-UG question papers for the retest on June 21. “The government wants to show it is taking massive steps. These steps are mere propaganda,” she said.
Rampal said the NTA must be scrapped and its responsibilities handed back to autonomous, specialised public universities and competent academic institutions.
JFME president Nandita Narain demanded the restoration of institutional autonomy. “Education is a concurrent list subject. The responsibility for conducting admissions to higher education must be given back to respective universities to restore the autonomy of institutions and states,” she said.
‘Integrity at stake’
The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), an organisation of former civil servants, has expressed outrage over repeated NTA lapses.
“At stake is the integrity of India’s apex testing and evaluation bodies, which stand completely compromised. The recent NEET-UG paper leak episode undermined the aspirations of over 23 lakh students who had spent years in rigorous preparation. We are amazed that, every year, for several years, the same kind of flaws continue to occur in the NEET examination,” the CCG said in an open letter endorsed by 73 former civil servants.