4 min readJul 31, 2026 06:48 PM IST First published on: Jul 31, 2026 at 06:48 PM ISTBy Satya MohantyWhen the Cockroach Janta Party gathered strength online, it was done on a whim. When they claimed the street, it was asking for an impossibility: The resignation of the Education Minister from a government that has never acknowledged any failure nor forced ministers to resign, owning accountability. Finally, the impossible happened as the agitation had become about more than an education-driven agenda and it threatened the government per se. The usual ineffective correctives such as laws with stronger punishments and constituting a task force have happened. Embedded in them is a semblance of going back to business as usual.AdvertisementThe multiple leaks during the past decade or so are because of structural weaknesses and covert objectives. The heart of the problem is neither failure of technology nor weak laws.The first problem is centralisation. Before the NTA-based examination started, every state had its tests for engineering, medicine and law, and leaks were rarer. States had a stake in a clean examination process. With centralisation and uniform tests by the NTA, the involvement of the states is minimised, and the Centre can push its agenda to the detriment of most candidates. The evangelical search for uniformity defies logic and is detrimental.In the US, the ETS administers centralised tests. In the past 50 years, there has not been a single “paper leak”. The NTA, which has questionable procedures and a skeletal staff, should have been jettisoned when it failed time and again. Where there are question setters, there can be selection bias. The ETS does not have any specific question setters. They have a question bank, and questions are algorithmically selected for a test. In India, ideological bias makes the system more likely to turn a blind eye. Given repeated failures, we should go back to the decentralised system, with the NTA handling examinations for institutions under the purview of the central government, if that.AdvertisementAlso Read | Students’ Jantar Mantar protest is over. But lessons not learnedWith the centralisation of testing comes the flourishing of the coaching industry. Dependence on coaching or tuition shops has become so complete that doing well in a standardised test has become well-nigh impossible without them. The coaching-tuition-profiteering model has consolidated, and they charge a hefty sum for training.you may likeThese industries sprout and flourish when there is, simultaneously, a broken education system and a centralised testing system. The coaching-tuition industry also hollows out the existing education system as good students opt out of mainstream education, committing their time to these teaching shops. While China was able to demolish the entire coaching-tuition industry in 2021, in India it is yet to be recognised as a problem. The industry expands relentlessly even though it strains parents’ finances, wastes families’ time and resources, and takes young people away from the fun of learning and growing up.Governments typically try to deny and then to cover up paper leaks when they take place. In the past, the incumbent government has tried to downplay the systemic problem by saying a leak is a small one or an isolated incident. The true scale of the problem, including the violations that are likely not caught, is much larger. If completely undeserving candidates take even some of the limited seats in top institutions by gaming the system, the whole country’s future pays the price. If the newly constituted task force suggests switching to online testing without fixing structural flaws, it will be like cleaning the mirror when there is dirt on one’s face.The writer is former secretary (Higher Education), Government of India. Views are personal