New Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has removed 600 experts from its examination team, officials from the testing agency informed Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday.
Importantly, NTA’s offices will be shifted to new premises on a “war footing”, with security to be reinforced through Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) teams.
The agency will also establish a four-tier question-paper checking mechanism to strengthen scrutiny of papers. It will onboard a new set of experts going forward.
The testing agency is in the process of inducting 20-25 officials over the next two to three weeks, it informed the minister.
This comes a day after Joshi directed a complete overhaul of the agency’s Confidential Operations (CONOPS) architecture. The overhaul includes secluded rooms, air-gapped systems and stricter device-deposit protocols.
The agency had earlier informed the minister that it was bringing in specialised professionals and domain experts for areas including cybersecurity, psychometrics and question-paper design.
The move comes after NTA announced a re-examination for UGC-NET 2026 English, Commerce and Sociology papers following multiple errors, including factual, typographical and translation-related issues.
The latest measures were announced after a follow-up review by Education Minister Pralhad Joshi with NTA officials.
The minister again directed the agency to ensure that all necessary security and related infrastructure is put in place for the smooth conduct of examinations, sources said.
The NTA’s Director General apprised Joshi of the steps taken by the agency following a series of examination-related controversies, including errors in three UGC-NET June 2026 papers.