The National Testing Agency (NTA), which has been boasting about the successful conduct of the NEET-UG retest after a paper leak led to the cancellation of the original exam, has been caught napping yet again.
It has been found that as many as 67 of the 150 questions in the English paper of the National Eligibility Test (NET) this year are the same as a two-year-old question paper. The NET score is used to determine a candidate’s eligibility for the post of assistant professor and to pursue a PhD.
Academics have blamed the anomaly on the NTA, which is supposed to ensure that questions are not repeated. One of them said the questions were set by “dubious experts” who had likely consulted old question papers.
The NET exam has two papers. Paper I, which is common for all candidates, comprises 50 questions on reasoning ability and general awareness. Paper II contains 100 questions related to the subject.
This year, as many as 67 of the 150 multiple-choice questions have been repeated in the English paper. All the questions that mirror those in the 2024 paper are in Paper II. Even the sequence of the answer options match.
Prof. Anita Rampal, former dean of the faculty of education at Delhi University, said the NTA lacked the capacity for scrutiny and academic credentials to check the quality and purpose of the tests it conducted.
“The agency is supposed to scrutinise the paper-setting process. It is unthinkable that so many of the subject-specific questions will be lifted from an exam that was held just two years ago. It shows the complete carelessness and the agency’s inability to formulate meaningful questions,” Rampal said.
She said students with good analytical understanding and depth would often fail this test unless they switched to rote learning. “This is not how future teachers and researchers should be selected. The NTA has no academic credentials or accountability, prepares poor and mindlessly shallow questions, and even lifts most of those from its own paper,” Rampal said.
Prof. R.K. Chauhan, former vice-chancellor of Guru Jambheshwar University, termed the repetition of questions “academic dishonesty”. “It is academic dishonesty on the NTA’s part. One or two questions may be repeated, that too after 5 to 10 years. Repeating 67 questions is as good as disclosing the paper,” he said.
Saavy, president of the All India Students Association at Delhi University, said “lifting” questions would have given an undue advantage to students who go to coaching centres. “Coaching institutes help students prepare for the NET by solving past papers,” she said.
The Telegraph has sent an email to NTA director-general Abhishek Singh seeking his comment on the issue. His response is awaited.