3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 28, 2026 05:39 PM IST
Centre has invited suggestions from stakeholders on reforms in the public examination system, with the inputs to be considered by a High-Powered Task Force (HPTF) set up to recommend measures to strengthen examination processes. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has opened the public consultation through the official website, examreforms-taskforce.dopt.gov.in.
Stakeholders can also submit their suggestions through the toll-free helpline 1800-180-4747. The government has sought active and wide-ranging participation in the exercise.
The consultation comes as the National Testing Agency (NTA) undergoes a major restructuring following a series of examination-related controversies. The agency has faced criticism over the NEET-UG paper leak, errors in UGC-NET question papers and other concerns related to the conduct and security of high-stakes examinations.
In a separate development, the Centre has appointed two directors and a joint director to the NTA. Ravi Kumar Singh, an Indian Police Service officer, and Prasanna Venkatesh V, an Indian Administrative Service officer, have been appointed as directors, according to orders issued by the personnel ministry on August 27.
Amit Samdariya, a 2016-batch Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Indirect Taxes) officer, has been appointed as joint director of the NTA.
The three officers have been asked to assume charge within three weeks of the orders. The orders said failure to do so would lead to the initiation of the process of debarment from the Central Staffing Scheme.
The appointments come days after the Centre announced a series of structural changes at the NTA. The agency has removed 600 experts from its examination panels and is onboarding new specialists. It is also introducing a four-tier checking system for question papers to improve scrutiny and detect factual, language, translation and formatting errors before papers are finalised.
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The NTA is also expected to induct 20 to 25 officials over the next two to three weeks. The agency is filling 10 professional leadership positions, including chief technology officer, chief finance officer, chief information security officer and general managers for test security, research and psychometrics. Specialists from the private sector are also being brought in for areas such as cybersecurity, psychometrics and question-paper design.
As part of the restructuring, more than 50 NTA staff members have also been removed. Officials have clarified that the action was part of the broader restructuring and was not linked to errors found in the recent UGC-NET question papers.
The agency is also shifting its offices from Okhla to new premises, with Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) teams being deployed to strengthen security. The government has additionally directed an overhaul of NTA’s confidential operations, including secluded rooms for sensitive work, air-gapped computer systems and mandatory device-deposit protocols.
The latest public consultation is part of the government’s broader effort to review examination systems and address concerns around question-paper quality, security, accountability and the conduct of high-stakes examinations.