A group of 73 former civil servants has called for a time-bound and independent review of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the CBSE evaluation system, citing concerns over the NEET-UG paper leak case and the implementation of the On Screen Marking (OSM) system for Class 12 examinations.

In an open letter issued under the aegis of the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), the signatories said repeated failures in the conduct of national examinations had undermined public confidence in the education system and affected millions of students.

Referring to the NEET-UG paper leak controversy, the group said recurring lapses in examination security had compromised the aspirations of more than 23 lakh candidates and raised questions about the integrity of the testing process.

The letter also criticised the rollout of the OSM digital evaluation system for CBSE Class 12 examinations, alleging that technical issues, including portal crashes, missing digital pages, mismatched answer sheets and marking errors, affected the assessment process, particularly in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.

The signatories claimed the transition to the new system contributed to a decline in pass percentages and top scores compared with previous years.

Among those who signed the letter 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.

The group urged Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign, taking responsibility for the issues raised, or be relieved of his responsibilities by the Prime Minister.

It also called for the introduction of enhanced security and cryptographic measures to prevent question paper leaks, along with independent audits of digital evaluation software before nationwide implementation.

The letter further alleged that flaws in the OSM system were identified by students and ethical hackers and argued that the transfer of senior CBSE officials following the controversy did not address wider policy and oversight concerns.

Citing instances of ministerial resignations following major public failures, including those of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Madhavrao Scindia, Nitish Kumar and Shivraj Patil, the group said accountability should extend to the political leadership overseeing the education system.

The former bureaucrats said maintaining fairness, transparency and integrity in examinations was essential to safeguarding students’ futures and public trust in the education sector.

Inputs from PTI

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