NTA Exam Changes Live: Reforms in NEET UG, JEE Main, CUET; test centres, question papers, biometric data

NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) will be conducting only national entrance examinations, such as JEE Main, NEET, and CUET, starting from the 2025 session. While the CUET exam will be held once a year, the NEET UG and other exams of that scale may be administered in multiple sessions. The High-Level Committee of Experts on the NTA has recommended changes in practically every aspect of NTA exams, the report of which has been made public today.

For the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET UG), the committee has proposed a hybrid model, multiple-stage exam, and fewer attempts. The experts suggested putting a limit on outsourcing and contract-based services and recommended NTA to increase the number of centres.

The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) will be held in CBT mode, with a shorter duration and less number of subjects, as per recommendations of the University Grants Commission (UGC). For CUET UG 2025, students will be allowed to write only five subjects. The NTA High Level Committee has recommended major changes in the way NTA exam question papers are set, distributed and collected and proposed a biometric 'DIGI-Exam' system to prevent exam impersonation as measure to secure the exams. Apart from these, it has suggested expansion and major restructuring of the NTA itself to ensure smoother operation.

The Ministry of Education constituted a high-level committee headed by the former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) K Radhakrishnan, to review the functioning of NTA and suggest exam reforms, following the NEET UG paper leak and exam cancellations. The panel comprises Randeep Guleria, B J Rao, Ramamurthy K, Pankaj Bansal, Aditya Mittal and Govind Jaiswal.