‘Come back, my son’: Indian exam leak leaves trail of death, despair, anger

Per the answer key released by India’s National Testing Agency (NTA), which organises and holds the NEET, Pradeep had scored more than 650 marks, enough to secure a seat, perhaps even in one of Rajasthan’s top government medical colleges. India has hundreds of private medical colleges, but its public-funded medical schools remain among its best, and are heavily subsidised. Private medical colleges charge more than $100,000, pushing them out of reach for most Indian families.

Pradeep’s success did not come through hard work alone. He had spent five years, including the final two years of high school, preparing at a private coaching centre, where his training over three years cost more than 500,000 rupees ($5250). To fund his son’s coaching and dream of becoming a doctor, Rajesh, a labourer, sold his ancestral land and exhausted almost all his savings.

As the men around him stood silent, Pradeep’s uncle and Rajesh’s cousin, Shrawan Kumar, screamed in anger. He said the system had failed poor students like Pradeep and crushed the dreams of children who worked tirelessly to escape poverty. “Can’t they protect one paper that decides the future of millions?” he shouted. “How can money and privilege simply bypass years of hard work?”

Women mourning outside Pradeep’s family home in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, in western India [Photo by special arrangement]

The leak

The NTA, which conducts most of India’s major central entrance examinations, including the NEET, has remained under scrutiny in recent years over repeated allegations of irregularities and paper leaks.

In 2024, the NEET-UG exam drew widespread suspicion after more than 80 students reportedly secured a perfect score of 720 out of 720. Educators and analysts called the figure unusual, considering that from the exam’s inception in 2016 until 2024, only seven students in all had achieved full marks.

The unprecedented jump triggered concerns among students, activists and education experts, many of whom questioned the integrity of the examination process. Police investigations led to arrests, and the results of several candidates were cancelled. However, despite the controversy, the NEET examination was not scrapped. Most arrests were concentrated in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Two years later, the examination found itself in the midst of controversy again.

Soon after the NEET exam ended on May 3, allegations of a paper leak flooded social media. The controversy intensified after nearly 120 questions circulated through Telegram in Rajasthan were allegedly found to match guess papers.

Within days, the city of Sikar – which had also drawn scrutiny in 2024 because of a disproportionately high success rate – emerged as a key focus of the controversy, with reports claiming papers were allegedly sold for up to 5 million rupees ($52,400).

The NTA said suspicious inputs were immediately shared with federal investigation agencies. The testing agency initially defended the examination process, but it later acknowledged serious concerns and cancelled the exams. On May 15, it announced new exam dates; the test is now scheduled for June 21.

Abhishek Singh, director of the NTA, said the agency was taking responsibility for the incident and was not shying away from accountability.

“There are gaps in the system, and we are working to plug them,” Singh said to Al Jazeera. He assured students that the upcoming NEET examination would be conducted with stronger security measures and greater transparency. Singh also urged aspirants to remain focused on their preparation and immediately report any suspicious activity or discrepancies to the agency.

Harsh Dubey, an aspiring doctor, preparing again for the NEET exam, now scheduled on June 21 after the paper leak [Photo by special arrangement]

Over-burdened testing agency

Experts say one of the key reasons behind repeated paper leak controversies in NTA-conducted exams is the growing burden on the testing agency.

Every year, the NTA conducts more than 20 major central examinations – just the four biggest among them, including the NEET, involving more than six million aspirants annually.

In response to parliamentarian Ramji Lal Suman’s question in parliament in August 2024, the Ministry of Education said the NTA operates with just 22 employees on deputation, 38 contractual staff members, and 138 outsourced workers.

Keshav Agarwal, vice president of the Coaching Federation of India, a national-level consortium of academic coaching institutions and test-preparation centres, said the agency has been stretched beyond its capacity and is struggling with limited resources. “You cannot simply conduct examinations for millions of students every year when the testing body itself has restricted manpower and infrastructure.”

He noted that NEET and other high-stakes examinations have multiple possible points of leakage. According to him, the risks begin with the paper setters, move to the printing stage, then transmission, and finally examination centres, where papers often arrive two to three days before the test.

“The biggest issue is that every stage involves human intervention,” Agarwal said, adding that many of these sensitive processes are outsourced, which increases vulnerability. He noted that while the NTA has conducted some examinations efficiently, it has struggled to maintain the same standards in high-stakes tests like NEET.

Agarwal also argued that heavy dependence on contractual staff and outsourced systems weakens accountability. In such high-pressure examinations, he said, these structural gaps can make leaks more likely. “Overall, this body has not inspired confidence with its performance.”

Crushed dreams, shattered hopes

Harsh Dubey, a NEET aspirant from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh, has spent years chasing a dream that still feels painfully out of reach. In 2024, when he appeared for the exam for the first time, he scored 627 marks, missing a government medical seat by just 6 to 10 points. For his family, the loss was devastating. His father, a farmer, had taken loans and exhausted nearly all his savings to pay for the son’s coaching and education.

Dubey is convinced that he lost out because of a paper leak that year that benefitted those who accessed the questions before the examination.

“Had there not been a paper leak, I would have been in a medical college by now,” he said, his voice heavy with disappointment.

Dubey protested the alleged leak and even approached the Supreme Court, though no hearing was held. He also met federal Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, urging stronger security in exams.

“When I met him, there was security everywhere,” Dubey recalled. “I told him, if this much security was placed around examinations, paper leaks would stop.”

This year, after scoring more than 660 marks, his family distributed sweets, and he began looking at medical colleges. But the exam cancellation has crushed that hope again.

“I can’t study now. This is too much. I can barely concentrate,” he said softly.

Rahul Singh, a biology educator at Aakash Institute in Mumbai, Maharashtra, who teaches NEET aspirants, said the paper leak controversy had deeply shaken students and severely affected their morale. He said many were left in shock and struggling to regain focus.

“We had to conduct counselling sessions to emotionally support students and persuade them to begin preparing again,” Singh said. He added that many students were disillusioned and unwilling to trust authorities that a paper leak would not recur.

“And honestly, we have no answer,” he said.

Rajesh and Pradeep’s one-room shed in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, with poor ventilation and a fragile structure covered with a tin roof [Photo by special arrangement]

‘Systemic killing’

Anok Mishra, a small kiln contractor in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, and father of Ritik Mishra, who also died by suicide after the NEET controversy this month, said the system had failed students like his son.

After years of hard work and three attempts at NEET, his son had finally felt hopeful after taking this year’s examination. But days later, when news of the alleged paper leak and cancellation surfaced, he took his own life.

The growing controversy has also triggered political demands for reform. States ruled by governments in opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, have urged the federal government to abolish NEET and allow states to conduct their own medical admission processes. Leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi has demanded the resignation of the education minister.

But for families that lost their children in the wake of the paper leak, the search for justice now goes beyond examination misconduct.

“People may call this a suicide,” Mishra, Ritik’s father, said. “But for us, this is a systemic killing caused by negligence and failure.”