CCTV, AI monitoring: How India's testing agency prepared for Neet-UG 2026 re-exam
India’s National Testing Agency (NTA) said it is fully prepared to conduct the National Eligibility Entrance Test undergraduate (Neet UG) re-examination on Sunday, June 21, with extensive measures in place to ensure a fair, secure, and candidate-friendly exam across India and overseas centres.
According to the NTA, the Neet UG re-examination will be held across 5,440 centres in 551 cities in India, along with 14 centres abroad, and will be conducted in English and 12 Indian languages.
The agency said robust security arrangements have been deployed, including CCTV surveillance in more than 95,000 examination rooms, with 1,38,560 CCTV cameras monitored live at national, state and ministry levels. It added that AI-based systems will also analyse CCTV feeds in real time, supported by 51,300 electronic jammers installed across centres.
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On the ground, the NTA has deployed a large workforce to ensure smooth conduct of the examination, including two invigilators in every room and more than 10 officials per centre.
The arrangements also include 38,795 frisking staff, 48,448 biometric verification personnel (doubled for the exam) with face authentication, around 6,700 observers along with over 100 virtual observers, and an average deployment of 40–50 security personnel per centre.
NTA said police, paramilitary forces, the Indian Air Force and the Department of Posts have been mobilised to ensure secure movement of examination materials. Confidential documents have been verified through custodian banks, and a nationwide mock drill was conducted on June 20 to test preparedness across all systems.
For candidates, facilities such as drinking water, ORS, ambulances, shaded waiting areas for parents, wall clocks in examination rooms, and extra rough sheets — including for left-handed students — have been arranged. The agency also said extended time has been provided to account for entry formalities.
NTA further urged students to rely only on official communication and avoid circulating rumours or fake “paper leak” messages on social media, calling them false and misleading.
What is Neet UG?
The Neet UG is a mandatory national-level entrance test for 2.28 million Indian students aspiring to pursue undergraduate medical and dental courses. The main exam was held on May 3, but the NTA got information about alleged malpractices surrounding it and cancelled the exam.
Over 2.28 million registered candidates appeared for the ‘pen-and-paper mode’ exams held on May 3, across 551 Indian cities and 14 international ones, covering over 5,400 centres. It was one of the largest entrance exams conducted globally.
The NTA cancelled the exams because of allegations of widespread paper leakage. There were striking similarities between the leaked papers and the actual ones at the test. A multi-state investigation was launched to probe the leakage. On May 12, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe and arrested several people including a chemistry professor in Pune, who is the main accused with links to the NTA process.
The controversy is the latest to rock India’s examination system, sparking mounting criticism of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
