Exam leaks lead to cancellations, leaving Indian students, researchers frustrated

In India, more than a million students and early-career researchers were affected by the recent cancellation or postponement of exams for scholarships or jobs, after online sales of documents were discovered. Issues surrounding leaked exam questions have been a hot-button issue for years and have become a national scandal.

At the center of this scandal is the National Testing Agency (NTA), an Indian government agency that conducts entrance exams for agencies such as the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and medical faculties.

On June 20, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan unceremoniously announced the cancellation of the UGC National Eligibility Test (NET), used to select PhD candidates, award junior research fellowships and recruit assistant professors. The tests, organized on June 18, involved more than 900,000 candidates in 83 subjects. Unsurprisingly, the decision sparked outrage.

The government said the cancellation followed an alert from India’s Cybercrime Coordination Center. The center said the exam was leaked on the dark net and the exam was compromised.

Two days later, the NTA postponed the CSIR-UGC NET exam scheduled to be held from June 25 to 27, citing concerns that it too had been compromised. Some 200,000 candidates in chemistry, earth sciences, life sciences, mathematics and physics were scheduled to take it.

Tens of thousands of angry students have taken to the streets – despite a record-breaking heat wave in parts of the country – to protest what they see as collusion between government agencies and officials who have leaked documents since early May. For many poorer students, these exams offered a way to win a scholarship, get a new job, and improve their prospects.

Complaints of rigging, malpractice and irregularities have also been filed by some of the 2.4 million students who took the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate exam on May 5 in a bid to secure a place in medical college. The results, announced on June 4, revealed numerous anomalies: 67 candidates scored perfect marks – most of them from the same centre – or scored just one or two marks short of a perfect score – which was impossible. Several complaints have been filed in the high courts and the Supreme Court by over 30 aggrieved students seeking redress. The Supreme Court will hear their cases on July 8.

The exam papers were reportedly sold for INR 3-6 million (£28,400-£56,800). Police investigations revealed that in some cases people with knowledge of the leaked documents posed as students and took the exams on their behalf.

Kavya Makhija, 25, who uses a wheelchair, said The Hindu that she had to cross New Delhi to reach the UGC-NET exam center in stifling heat. When she arrived, she was unable to access the examination room because it was inaccessible to people in wheelchairs. Four staff members had to help her and another disabled person had to crawl to reach the lobby, she said. Redoing the exams may be simple for the government, but can involve considerable difficulty for those taking them, she added.

With more than 3 million students and their families now affected, the government responded quickly. The files have been passed to the national crime agency and more than 20 people have been arrested so far, including suspected cheats, teachers and civil servants accused of leaking documents. NTA director Subodh Kumar Singh was also removed and a new director was appointed.

The legislation passed to combat cheating in exams, but not implemented by the previous government, is now being implemented. The new law provides for a three- to five-year jail term for leaking exam papers or forging answer sheets. Violators will also face fines of up to INR 1 million. Companies conducting these exams could be fined up to INR 10 million and their employees could be sentenced to jail if they are found to have failed to maintain the integrity of the process.

Meanwhile, an expert committee headed by the former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization was formed to review the NTA. The committee will speak to students and their parents to hear their concerns and aims to establish a tamper-proof examination system. It will focus on reforming the examination process, improving data security and the structure and operation of the NTA.