After NEET UG paper leak, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan announces computer-based exams from next year

NEW DELHI: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday announced that NEET UG exams will go computer based from next year, while clarifying on the alleged irregularities in the examination, he said that the government has "zero tolerance towards malpractices."

His announcement came days after huge uproar that followed the NEET UG 2026 exam paper leak.



Dharmendra Pradhan said, "The root cause of this was OMR and therefore, from the next year, the exam will be conducted in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode."


Pradhan said the National Testing Agency had received a complaint shortly after the exam and that an investigation was immediately initiated.

He said, "The new dates of the re-examination have been declared for June 21st... The exam took place on 3rd May and on 7th May, NTA received a complaint that the guess paper had some questions that were present in the Question sheets this time. The Higher Education Department initiated an immediate inquiry and handed it over to the government agency... They contacted the state agencies and by May 12th, we were confirmed that, under the guise of a guess paper, the actual examination questions had indeed been leaked..."

Explaining the rationale behind the decision, he added, "We did not want any deserving student to be deprived of their rights due to the machinations of fraudulent candidates or the conspiracies of the education mafia... this decision elicited two distinct sets of opinions across the country—particularly within the student community. We acknowledge and respect both these viewpoints. We consider it our responsibility to find a resolution to this situation..."

Pradhan added "We have zero tolerance towards malpractices and this is a long fight against the examination mafia... Various social media handles are trying to spread misinformation, the system is being challenged and in view of this, the investigation has been handed over to the CBI, who have initiated immediate action. It will go to the depths of the breach..."



He said "We will not let malpractices happen this time... We are all very sad and worried about the candidates, but we had to take this difficult decision in the interest of the nation..."

Meanwhile, the NTA, earlier in the day, announced that the NEET UG re-examination will now be conducted on Sunday, June 21. The decision comes amid widespread criticism and backlash over alleged lapses in the conduct of the exam and the handling of the complaint process.