Nandan Nilekani exam reforms panel gets extension till January 2027; receives 50,000 suggestions

The Centre has extended the tenure of the Nandan Nilekani-led High Powered Task Force (HPTF) on examination reforms till January 2027. The six-member panel, constituted in July following the NEET-UG paper leak controversy, has received over 50,000 suggestions from students, parents, teachers, academic institutions, subject experts, industry organisations and examination-conducting bodies.

The task force was initially expected to submit its report by October 2026. However, with stakeholder consultations still underway, the government has granted it additional time to finalise its recommendations. The Centre has also submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court detailing the progress made by the panel so far, sources said.

The proposed system would involve creating a large database of questions prepared by subject experts, rather than asking them to set complete question papers for specific examinations. The questions would be vetted, verified, translated into different languages and stored in a secure digital vault.

READ | Nilekani panel considering question vault mechanism, digital delivery of paper at last minute to prevent leaks At the time of the examination, questions would be randomly selected from the database according to a predetermined blueprint covering the syllabus, question types and difficulty levels.

This would ensure that even those involved in preparing and reviewing questions would not know which ones would eventually appear in the examination. Also Read | Two-stage exam, age cap, CBT shift in NEET: Parliamentary panel calls for major changes A senior government official had earlier explained that a pool of one lakh questions could be created for an examination such as the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) test.

A paper requiring 20-30 questions could then be generated by randomly selecting questions from this pool. The model is already being used by the SSC, which conducts several recruitment examinations through computer-based tests (CBTs).

Its chairman, S Gopalakrishnan, has said that the Commission does not print question papers. Instead, questions are selected, compiled and encrypted shortly before the examination and digitally transmitted to centres. Candidates can access them after logging in when the test begins.

Also Read | Parliamentary panel to examine integrity of national exams, need for reforms Another proposal being discussed is to separate different responsibilities involved in conducting examinations. Under this approach, a single service provider would not be responsible for multiple stages such as question paper preparation, examination centre management and test administration.

The task force was announced by the Prime Minister a day after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Union education minister following widespread protests over examination irregularities, including the NEET-UG paper leak. The panel is headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani.

Its other members include former ISRO chairman S Somanath, former Intelligence Bureau director Tapan Deka, IIT Madras director V Kamakoti, former education secretary Anita Karwal and logistics expert Amrit Lal Meena. Meanwhile, the Centre has announced that NEET will move to a computer-based test (CBT) format from 2027.