Parliament Question: Institutional capacity of the National Testing Agency

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2152 ANSWERED ON: 11.03.2026 Institutional capacity of the National Testing Agency 2152 Dr. John Brittas: Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state: (a) total number of permanent regular employees currently working in National Testing Agency (NTA), category-wise details thereof; (b) total number of contractual, outsourced and temporary personnel engaged by NTA, category-wise details thereof; (c) total number and details of public examinations being conducted by NTA; (d) whether Government has assessed the adequacy of NTA’s human resources in light of repeated concerns regarding delays, paper leaks and examination security; (e) whether Government concur with the adverse observations in the recent report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on EWCY&S on the NTA; and (f) steps taken to strengthen in-house capacity, transparency and accountability of the NTA? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR) (a) to (f): With the objective of having a specialized body to conduct entrance examinations for admission to Higher Education Institutions, the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, (the then Ministry of Human Resource Development) established the National Testing Agency (NTA) as an independent and self-sustained organization in 2018. Some of the major examinations conducted by NTA include JEE (Main) which is an eligibility test for JEE (Advanced) and is used for admission to undergraduate engineering programs in the NITs and other prestigious engineering institutions, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) for undergraduate medical college admissions, the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) UG & PG for admissions to undergraduate and post graduate programs in Central Universities etc. Since its inception, NTA has conducted over 275 examinations involving 6.61 crore candidates. Director General (DG) of NTA is appointed by Central Government under the Central Staffing Scheme (CSS). Given the functional requirements, the specialised nature of the work involved and need for confidentiality, the staffing of NTA comprises academicians, administrativepersonnel, and domain experts to ensure the availability of necessary expertise and institutional capacity. The organisational strength is further bolstered through personnel on deputation and contractual staff, and is also supported by outsourced personnel engaged for operational and support functions. To strengthen NTA, 16 posts 8 each at Director level and Joint Director Level have been created. In order to suggest effective measures for transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations by NTA, the Ministry of Education constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts (HLCE) on 22.06.2024. The Committee submitted its report titled ‘Reformation of National Common Entrance Testing’ on 21.10.2024 and have recommended strengthening of NTA, institutional linkage with States, involvement of Test Indenting Agencies as Knowledge and Examinations partner etc. A High-Powered Steering Committee, chaired by Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, former Chairman, I.S.R.O. is already constituted to oversee the implementation of reforms in the conduct of national level examinations by the NTA. ****