Restoring trust is a real challenge, says IIT Madras Director in Trial Task Force

Mumbai: The paper leak for India’s undergraduate medical entrance examination, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2026, has revealed a vulnerability few expected: the question makers, not the distribution process.

V. Kamakoti, director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and a member of the centre’s examination reform task force, says the focus is now on tightening the screening of paper filers, expanding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in tracking and exploring whether NEET should move to more computer-based tests like the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for engineering courses.

But apart from technology, rebuilding trust remains the toughest challenge, says the professor in an interview with Mint. Edited excerpts:

Question: The NEET paper was allegedly leaked from the setter side, not during distribution. What is your opinion on the weakest link in leak prevention?

It is now clear that the question paper was leaked by the people involved in setting the paper. Unlike 2024, where the leak occurred after the paper was printed, according to investigating agencies. A committee was then established by Dr. Radhakrishnan who issued more than 250 recommendations. The NTA (National Testing Agency) implemented many of these and therefore there was no leakage in the 3 May 2026 exam after the newspaper left the NTA premises; it was printed, packaged and delivered to the exam location without incident.

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This time in 2026 the leak happened earlier question makers. The foundation of trust for any competitive exam rests on two things: the question setters and the invigilators. If any of these are compromised, the entire system will collapse, and one of them is exactly what happened in 2026. The biggest challenge facing the task force now is to address these two points immediately, as the next exam period begins in December 2026.

Q: Has the new task force been given a timeline for its recommendations?

The first meeting will take place in August. We have to design short, medium and long term horizons and it can take about two months to create an initial framework. I believe the committee will eventually agree on a framework applicable not just to a single trial, but to the entire trial process—one that ensures that trials are conducted in a robust, transparent, and risk-free manner.

Q: What other technologies can be used in tests like these?

A large number of technologies have already passed trials. When I took the JEE it was all paper and pen. From there we moved on to OMR sheets read by optical scanners, then image scanners and finally to computer based testing. Today, we use multiple layers of technology – including biometric authentication, encryption, handwriting detectors and mobile phone activity detectors – to ensure that exams are conducted securely. The working group will evaluate all this and, if necessary, recommend further measures, including penalties for those found responsible.

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Q: When information is leaked, it’s usually the students who pay the price – canceled exams, retakes, lost time…

It is very important that people who try to play with children’s future are quickly put behind bars.

Q: How will artificial intelligence be used to monitor guards? Doesn’t this raise privacy concerns?

Not necessarily. Think of it as a security camera at a train station. We need this for security and we don’t capture anyone’s personal information. What we do is we set up surveillance cameras in test rooms that connect to control centers where each camera is monitored for anything untoward. In 2026, both the May and June exam sessions included significant efforts of this nature. AI can help further – a person staring at a screen for two hours might miss a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but AI can continuously monitor and flag specific incidents, such as a conversation between two people, based on parameters we define.

Q: Could the new framework include multi-session testing like JEE? Is computer based testing realistic for an exam as big as NEET with centers in very small towns as well?

JEE Mains is conducted for 1.3-1.5 lakh students but in multiple sessions. As a country, we can confidently test around 300,000 students at a time – we run four to five lessons twice a weekend, which is 10-15 lessons a year. NEET had to be conducted as a single section exam due to various reasons which is why NTA could not shift it to CBT (computer based test).

Given all that has happened, one option in future is to move NEET to multiple sessions as well – probably at least eight to 10, given the roughly 2.2 million aspirants involved. This could be a very important shift.

Q: How do you ensure that there is no leakage from the adjuster side? Given that this is a small, select group of people, what can realistically be done?

One of the least discussed but most important factors here is trust; the company itself works on trust. That’s the real challenge. All of our encryption and biometric guarantees apply after completing the questionnaire. But if the person who knows the questions decides to post them, what can be done? It’s a really difficult problem.

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In a population of 150 million, it is not difficult to find 50 good chemistry teachers, 50 good math teachers, and equally strong biology teachers. However, we need a much stricter selection process for who will be entrusted with this responsibility. That is the specific problem we are focusing on.

Invigilators are a separate, more manageable problem, and we have a solution for that side.