The NTA will not conduct any recruitment exams from 2025, instead focusing only on higher education entrance tests, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Tuesday.

The agency will be restructured next year and new posts are being created, he added.

The move is part of examination reforms based on the recommendations of a high-level panel set up earlier this year following alleged leaks in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) medical entrance exam and a series of cancellations of others due to suspected leaks and other glitches.

The education ministry is also in conversation with the health ministry on conducting NEET in the traditional pen-and-paper mode or switch to a Computer Based Test (CBT).

"The National Testing Agency (NTA) will be limited to conducting only entrance exams for higher education and not conduct any recruitment exams from next year," Pradhan told reporters.

He clarified that the Common University Entrance Test - Undergraduate (CUET-UG) would continue to be held once a year.

The high-level panel headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief R Radhakrishnan noted that the NTA outstretched itself to accommodate diverse requests from many test indenting agencies for handling end-to-end operations of tests.

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"The NTA should primarily conduct entrance examinations. Enhancing its scope for other examinations may be considered after the capacity of the NTA is augmented," the panel said in its report.

Suggesting restructuring of the NTA, the committee recommended 10 specific verticals, headed at the director level. The verticals will be related to technology, products and operations, test security and surveillance.

"The NTA needs to be manned with internal domain-specific human resources and a leadership team with domain expertise, proven experience and skill sets who should take charge of the testing process in the future," it said.