Kerala minister Roji M John calls NTA 'symbol of corruption', seeks Pradhan's resignation

Kerala Higher Education Minister Roji M John on Thursday intensified the Opposition's attack on the National Testing Agency (NTA), describing it as a 'symbol of corruption and mismanagement' and demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged failures in the country's examination system.

In a strongly-worded Facebook post, John alleged that repeated examination lapses had undermined the credibility of India's competitive exams.

Citing figures from the past decade, he claimed there had been 89 question paper leaks and 48 re-examinations, accusing the Centre of allowing 'examination mafias' to jeopardise the future of lakhs of students.

The minister said the controversies surrounding national entrance examinations, particularly NEET-UG, reflected deeper institutional problems rather than isolated incidents.

The NTA has remained under scrutiny since allegations of paper leaks and irregularities in the medical entrance examination triggered nationwide protests and forced a retest for a section of candidates.

Referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's recent protest in Kota and claims made by a student named Sarthak over discrepancies in CBSE examinations, John argued that the issues pointed to systemic corruption within examination bodies.

He said simply banning Telegram would not restore public confidence in the examination process.

Calling for accountability, John said the 'democratic course of action' would be for Pradhan to step down as Union Education Minister.

He also urged the Centre to dismantle the NTA's centralised examination model, saying students should not be made to suffer because of repeated administrative failures.

The NTA and the Union Education Ministry have faced sustained criticism from Opposition parties over alleged irregularities in national entrance examinations, especially following last year's NEET-UG controversy.