India's youth is losing faith in a fair exam system: MOTN

For millions of Indians, examinations are supposed to offer something very basic. A level playing field. Study hard, sit the test, get your marks and move on. But the latest Mood of the Nation (MOTN) survey suggests that this basic promise is losing credibility.

As many as 67% of respondents said they have little or no confidence in the fairness of India’s entrance and government recruitment examinations. While 27% said they had “not much” confidence, another 40% said they had “no” confidence. Only 23% expressed confidence — 14% said they had “a great deal” and 9% a “fair amount”. Another 10% said they did not know or could not say.

The Mood of the Nation is a bi-annual survey that's been commissioned by the India Today Group for around two decades now. The August 2026 edition was conducted by CVoter with a sample of 25,184 people directly surveyed between July 1 and August 25. Another set of 91,795 interviews conducted over the



last six months as part of CVoter's regular tracking were also used to formulate the findings of the August 2026 MOTN.

The numbers are significant because they come after a year in which some of India’s biggest examinations have been hit by cancellations, re-tests, technical glitches, alleged paper leaks and questions over evaluation. The result is a trust deficit that goes beyond one examination or one examination agency.

The MOTN numbers are stark. That is not simply a verdict on the National Testing Agency, JPSC, JSSC or any other individual body. It is a warning about the credibility of examinations as a route to education, employment and social mobility.

India has demonstrated that it can cancel an examination, conduct a re-test, order a probe, arrest suspects and set up another committee. The harder test is different. Can it build an examination system in which students do not need any of those remedies in the first place?