15 of 39 posts in NTA are vacant, Centre informs Rajya Sabha
Education Ministry says the National Testing Agency depends heavily on deputation, contract, and outsourced staff while 15 sanctioned posts remain vacant
- The Education Ministry stated that the National Testing Agency has a vacancy gap and relies heavily on deputation, contract, and outsourced staffing.
- The National Testing Agency is functioning without a fully permanent cadre at the scale implied by its examination workload.
- The National Testing Agency has faced criticism over paper leaks, cancellations, and re-examinations.
- A Communist Party of India (Marxist) member of Parliament described the staffing situation as a serious administrative failure because the National Testing Agency conducts high-stakes examinations.
The Education Ministry has informed the Rajya Sabha that the National Testing Agency (NTA) is functioning with a significant staffing gap. The issue matters for UPSC because the NTA is the central body that conducts major entrance and fellowship examinations, and administrative weakness in such an institution affects the credibility of public recruitment and selection processes.
What the Education Ministry told Parliament
According to the ministry, 15 of the 39 sanctioned posts in the NTA remain vacant. The ministry also said the agency depends on 24 employees on deputation, 73 contract personnel, and 124 outsourced workers rather than a permanent cadre.
UPSC may use the National Testing Agency issue to test governance of examination bodies, administrative capacity, and reforms needed to improve transparency, reliability, and institutional accountability in higher-education recruitment and entrance testing.
