‘Public trust hit by repeated lapses’: 73 ex-bureaucrats seek independent review of NTA, CBSE | Education News
3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 11, 2026 11:26 AM IST
A group of 73 former civil servants on Wednesday sought a thorough, time-bound and independent review of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the CBSE evaluation ecosystem, citing the NEET-UG paper leak episode and the implementation of the On Screen Marking (OSM) digital evaluation system for CBSE Class 12 examinations.
In an open letter issued under the aegis of the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), the former bureaucrats said repeated examination-related lapses had undermined public confidence in India’s education system. According to a PTI report, they alleged that the integrity of the country’s apex testing and evaluation bodies had been compromised and called for stricter safeguards against examination irregularities.
Referring to NEET-UG, the signatories said the paper leak episode had affected the aspirations of more than 23 lakh students. The letter alleged that recurring flaws in the examination process had enabled some candidates to gain prior access to question papers through leaks.
The former officials also raised concerns over the rollout of the OSM digital evaluation system for CBSE Class 12 board examinations. According to the letter, the transition was marked by portal crashes, missing digital pages, mismatched answer sheets, and marking errors, particularly in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. It further alleged that the hurried implementation of the system contributed to a decline in pass percentages and top scores compared to previous years.
The signatories urged the government to undertake an independent judicial or expert review of the NTA and the CBSE evaluation framework. They also sought the implementation of advanced security and cryptographic protocols to prevent question paper leaks and called for third-party audits of all digital evaluation software before nationwide deployment.
The letter further demanded that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan take responsibility for the alleged lapses. It cited instances of ministers resigning after major public failures, including former Railway Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1956, former Civil Aviation Minister Madhavrao Scindia in 1993, former Railway Minister Nitish Kumar in 1999, and former Home Minister Shivraj Patil in 2008.
Among the signatories are former Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, former Health Secretary K Sujatha Rao, former Punjab Police chief Julio Ribeiro, former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa and former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
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Separately, a coalition of teachers’ and students’ organisations under the Joint Forum for Movement on Education (JFME) also demanded restructuring of the NTA and an independent judicial inquiry into alleged examination irregularities.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the forum said repeated controversies surrounding examinations had affected confidence in the education system. It called for an end to outsourcing public examinations to private agencies, greater autonomy for universities and educational institutions, and a review of the existing examination framework.
The JFME also sought physical re-evaluation of CBSE Class 12 answer sheets without additional charges and requested relaxation of certain eligibility requirements for students who may have been affected by evaluation-related issues. The forum said students, teachers and parents should be consulted in education policy and examination reforms and stressed the need to safeguard the credibility of public examinations.
(With PTI inputs)