Exam system needs to be put to the test

A recent review of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025 reveals a troubling pattern: even in a relatively cheating scandal-free year, the exam system is still tripping over basic failures. Across multiple states, an internal government assessment found non-functional CCTVs, poor coverage of strong rooms, and invigilation lapses in exam centres. Some had cameras positioned so poorly, they might as well not have existed. Others had more than half their systems down. In several locations, monitoring teams couldn't even log into portals to view real-time footage. These are not sophisticated breaches, but routine, fixable operational gaps. And that's what makes them so worrying.

For an exam that determines the future of lakhs of students, these are bare-minimum safeguards. If India genuinely wants to dismantle the education factory racket - coaching dependency, retesting spiral, question paper leakage ecosystem - then the basics must work. Every glitch erodes trust among those students who do things the right way without resorting to 'shortcuts', who slog for years, and who can't afford to drop a year because it's too expensive for their families to reinvest. For them, a compromised exam isn't just heartbreaking, it's downright exclusionary. It quietly pushes out deserving candidates who depend on a fair, predictable system to rise.

The education ministry has now told the National Testing Agency (NTA) to rebuild CCTV systems, fix camera placement, ensure uninterrupted live feeds and enforce tougher oversight for 2026. Unless India gets these basics right, degrees awarded in an already hyperactive, overcrowded job market will be worthless. An exam needs to test candidates. Not bypass it by merely passing them.