In a major shocker for lakhs of students, National Testing Agency, NTA has announced its decision to cancel the recently conducted National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, NEET 2026 exam. The decision directly impacts 22.79 lakh candidates who registered and appeared for the examination for admission to medical and dental courses. While the decision was taken after serious concerns over major paper leak surfaced, the fact remains that the cancellation of the examination is always a matter of great stress for all.
Not only does the cancellation of exam impact the logistics, but also creates an undue stress on the students who have been preparing for years for the examination. What makes the matter worse is the increasing audacity of miscreants who continue to play havoc with the system. Money to the tune of 10 to 15 lakhs per student is being charged by people to find ways to circumvent the system that has been created for fair selection of students for one of the most important jobs in the society.
Incidentally, ever since its inception in 2013 and implementation in 2016, NEET has been embroiled in one controversy after another. Endless resources have been deployed and measures taken to ensure safety of the examination. And yet, every year there is news of paper leak and concerns. Even in 2024, the paper leak was identified, albeit in a smaller region and the exam cancelled. The impact back then, however, was limited to select centres and few thousand students.
When parents and students would expect the instances to reduce, the year on year crackdown has only confirmed one fact - NEET exam needs a bigger rethink and policy shift to a more secure format. For many the solution has been to shift the paper to a computer based test - in line with other national level entrance examinations like JEE Main and JEE Advanced - which have shown considerable success in terms of securing the sanctity of the examination. And yet, NTA has been indecisive in making the shift. This year’s event raises the urgency of the dialogue about serious shifts.
Why is NEET conducted in pen and paper mode instead of CBT?
Before we suggest the changes, it is only prudent to understand why NEET continues in the archaic pen and paper mode.
1.Scale of the examination
As the only entrance examination for admission to any medical or dental course in the country, NEET becomes one of the largest examinations conducted in the world. Over 20 lakh students appear every year for the examination. The shear size and volume of candidates who appear for the examination creates major logistical concerns. The first is the availability of centres where the exam can be conducted.
A computer based test requires specific technical requirements. Not only do the centres require the machines, they also require a larger infrastructure to manage that number of candidates. Moreover, with the remote areas, conducting the examination becomes tougher in CBT mode. With students appearing even from the farthest regions, conducting NEET in CBT poses different concerns of uniformity and equal opportunity.
2. Single Day Examination to provide equal opportunity and parity
NEET, by virtue of its intent, is conducted in one shift. As mentioned above, while CBT is conducted for larger scale of examinations, all these other exams are conducted in multiple shifts. The other large scale examinations like the UPSC Prelims and UPPCS as well as CTET (Central Teacher Eligibility Test) which are also conducted in single shifts, are all conducted in pen and paper mode.
Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE which conducts CTET examination in 2023 tried to shift the exam to CBT mode. However, it was then shifted back to pen and paper mode after the logistical concerns were raised.
3. Multiple Language Model
Due to the nature of the examination and the variance, NEET examination is conducted in 13 languages - including English, Hindi and Urdu as well as 10 regional languages. This is done to provide a single platform to students from all states of the country to compete for the medical seats.
All the CBT examinations barring the SSC examinations are conducted usually in two languages. Conducting a CBT examination in multiple languages, on a single day for large number of students add to the complexity and logistic feasibility.
4. Political Tug-of-war for NEET
NEET is the only examination which imposes a central mandate on the education system of the country. Constitutionally, education is part of the concurrent list of subjects. What it means is that both centre and state governments have the right to decide the manner of education for the institutions under its’ jurisdiction. Accordingly, both central government and state government have the right to decide the larger curriculum, structure and functioning of the educational institutions within its purview.
NEET, however, is the only examination which circumvents that list. Due to the nature of the academic extent, NEET falls under not just the education but also the Ministry of Health. The decision in regards medical education, it was ruled, rests directly under the directives of the central Ministry of Health and hence the admission criteria and process was decided to be with the central authority.
This was the reason why NEET was strongly opposed and contested against by the states when it was suggested in 2013. Supreme Court of India, however, had ruled in favour of the centre, resting all the rights of conducting the examination with the central authority. Prior to this, every state used to conduct their own medical entrance examination and follow individual admission criteria. NEET has streamlined the admission criteria, in lines with the Ministry of Health directives. Accordingly, the examination is conducted by NTA. It is only the admission process that is then controlled by states which release their own merit list and criteria for admission to state run medical colleges.
This sensitive nature of the examination has always placed NEET in the midst of centre vs state conflicts. Tamil Nadu has been the front runner and has been opposing NEET from its inception. Many states have in the past also opposed NEET and called it unfair for the students of their state. While there is no tangible reason, this conflict has also led to the delay in shifting the mode of NEET to a CBT mode, with most suggestions strongly opposed by the many states.
NEET in CBT - Possible Yes but…
The listed reasons can be argued and with good reason. A CBT paper offers a greater flexibility to the examination conducting authority in terms of safety. The paper is directly shared onto the screens and the monitoring of digital papers can be managed with more efficiency.
Needless to say, most of the NEET paper leaks happen at the printing press. Even in 2024, the paper leak was suggested to have originated from such sources and during transfer of the question papers. These can be effectively circumvented with computer based tests.
Also, if we speak of scale, there are other precedents and papers which manage CBT with scale in line with NEET examination. In regards the shear volume of candidates appearing, the only other entrance examination which matches the scale is the recently launched CUET (Common University Entrance Test) undergraduate examination which recorded 15.68 lakh candidates in 2025.
Other than these, multiple recruitment examinations like SSC CGL and SSC GD examinations that have more candidates appearing for the examination which match the scale. These exams are conducted in CBT mode. There is, however, a major difference - all these exams are conducted across multiple days. Shifting NEET to CBT, hence, would require multiple shift format - followed for CUET and JEE Main examinations by NTA.
Conducting the examination in multiple shifts requires the process of normalisation of scores, which again becomes a larger debate for an examination of this scale and intent. Due. To the fact that NEET is the single entry point, the arguments against have weighed heavily against shifting the mode.
However, the increasing security concerns, instances of unfair means and the larger syndicate of ‘exam hackers’ for the examination is a growing concern. Every year miscreants have found ways to circumvent the system, creating a larger issue of sanctity of the examination. Year on year the voices have risen condemning the conduct of the examination and security measures but no voices have been raised in taking the bitter pill and shifting to a more logistically feasible model.
While we do not suggest that CBT is a superior manner, the fact remains that cancellation of an examination like NEET creates a ripple effect not merely with the education system but also with the health infrastructure of the country. Delays in the examination and admission in turn leads to delays in much needed number of professionals the country continuously needs.
And let us not even begin to list out the emotional stress of a cancelled examination. Lakhs of students, preparing for years, trying to find their right to one medical seat in the country! And to go through it all over again only because a few people decided to cheat the system and could is unfair both morally, ethically and socially.
CBT may not be the solution but the fact remains that it is an alternative and the dialogue needs to begin. If not CBT, then perhaps a different manner of conducting the admission process should be devised which would reduce the importance of single examination, and perhaps divide the ownership, that would reduce the high stakes and make leaking of exam papers less lucrative. Irrespective of the solution, the fact remains that a rethink is needed and needed now.
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