Education Ministry prepares CBT upgrade for future exams, NEET may soon move online

The Ministry of Education is working on a national examination-grade Computer-Based Testing (CBT) infrastructure strategy to enable the shift of NEET from pen-and-paper mode to an online format, officials said.

A final decision on the move will be taken after the government receives the report of the Nandan Nilekani-led task force set up to reform India’s public examination system.

The move follows the NEET paper leak earlier this year, after which the Centre announced that the medical entrance exam would be conducted in CBT mode from next year. Officials said that once the infrastructure strategy is in place, the plan is to move all entrance exams online.

At present, NEET is held in pen-and-paper mode, while the National Testing Agency conducts several other exams,



including JEE-Main, CUET-UG and PG, UGC-NET and CSIR UGC-NET, as computer-based tests. The strategy being prepared is aimed at ensuring a smoother shift to online testing across exams.

"A national examination-grade Computer-Based Testing infrastructure strategy is being formulated to close the geographic gap in test-centre availability, standardise centre-level examination-grade specifications and to permit the migration to CBT from the pen-and-paper mode examinations. The strategy is under active consideration based on a multi-model sourcing architecture," a senior Ministry of Education official told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The development comes amid an ongoing overhaul of the NTA, the autonomous body that conducts NEET-UG and other entrance examinations for higher educational institutions.