High-powered task force on exam reforms set up under Nandan Nilekani: PM

Pralhad Joshi faces task of restoring trust in education system

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set up a high-powered task force headed by Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani to recommend technology-driven and structural reforms for the examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), aiming to restore confidence after weeks of controversy over paper leaks. 

In a video message on Sunday, Modi said the panel would recommend ways to maximise the use of technology to make examinations cleaner, more transparent and free from irregularities, adding that the government would implement its recommendations to build a foolproof examination system.   

The announcement came on a day when Pralhad Joshi took additional charge as Union education minister, following the exit of Cabinet colleague Dharmendra Pradhan. 

For Joshi, a five-term Lok Sabha member from Karnataka’s Dharwad, the immediate task is to rebuild trust in the education system while addressing deeper structural challenges, including the poor employability of college graduates. 

The multidisciplinary task force under Nilekani includes former Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) chairman S Somanath, former Intelligence Bureau director Tapan Deka, IIT Madras Director V Kamakoti, former education secretary Anita Karwal and logistics expert Amrit Lal Meena, according to people familiar with the matter. 

“We have set up fast-track courts. Tomorrow in Parliament too, we are moving forward in the direction of making a new law with strict legal provisions,” the prime minister said. 

Joshi, the newly appointed education minister, is considered to enjoy Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s confidence. He is a long-time BJP organisation leader began his political career through RSS-linked activism and party work in Dharwad. He has represented Dharwad in the Lok Sabha since 2004 and served as Karnataka BJP president from 2013 to 2016. He held the Parliamentary Affairs and Coal and Mines portfolios between 2019 and 2024 and continues to oversee Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and New and Renewable Energy, which were assigned to him in 2024. 

As renewable energy minister, Joshi has played a key role in advancing India’s goals of achieving 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel power capacity by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2070, targets seen as critical for energy security and sustainable economic growth.

 

Joshi’s tenure has been widely credited with accelerating renewable energy capacity additions, with more than half of India's electricity generation coming from non-fossil fuel sources in June 2025, five years ahead of the 2030 Paris Agreement target. At the same time, the domestic industry has raised concerns over insufficient transmission capacity, which has led to grid curtailments. 

Fixing the education sector 

Joshi’s appointment to the education ministry comes at a challenging juncture, with his predecessor Dharmendra Pradhan resigning from the portfolio after several weeks of student protests over alleged examination paper leaks across the country. 

The protests, which raised questions about the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA), examination security and accountability in the testing system, have placed the ministry under heightened scrutiny. 

Restoring confidence in competitive examinations, strengthening oversight mechanisms and addressing concerns around testing agencies are likely to be among Joshi's immediate challenges. 

Education experts said Joshi’s challenge extends beyond the immediate crisis in examinations, with the sector facing structural issues across school and higher education. 

Syed Sultan Ahmed, Chairperson of The Association of International Schools of India (TAISI), said school and higher education often get clubbed together despite having different challenges and requiring separate approaches. 

“The challenge is structural in nature where some states do well while some do not; so working smoothly with states going forward will be important,” Ahmed said, emphasising the need to preserve the federal character of education. 

“The more you centralise, the more problems will prop up due to high variation among our states. We cannot set central benchmarks for states with wide variations. When we do, we put up a lot of states to fail, making them incompetent by comparing with national averages.” 

He said implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) remained a key challenge, with public spending on education still below the policy’s recommended target of 6 per cent of GDP. At around 3.5-4 per cent of GDP currently, around 80 per cent of the spending is absorbed by teacher salaries, leaving limited resources for infrastructure development and upgradation, he added. 

Ahmed also called for a rethink of India’s examination system, arguing that a student’s future should not be determined by a single three-hour test. “Most countries are moving away from marks to portfolio evaluation,” he said, adding that Class XII board examinations had lost relevance. 

He also flagged the influence of coaching centres on competitive examinations such as NEET and JEE, calling for a law against such institutions. 

“We need to stop coaching classes and bring a law against it. If we do that, the coaching centres industry will fall like a pack of cards,” he added. 

In higher education, Ahmed said high costs and high cut-offs in quality public institutions were pushing many students towards expensive private universities. 

Bornali Bhandari, Professor at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), said the focus of reforms should extend beyond enrolment numbers to actual learning outcomes. 

Flagging India’s high secondary education drop-out rate, she called for ensuring that students complete at least Class X and for greater attention to educational attainment rather than only gross enrolment ratios. 

Bhandari said reforms were needed across five areas — books, teachers, examinations, curriculum and pedagogy — with greater emphasis on improving teaching methods. She also advocated introducing pre-vocational exposure in Classes IX and X, followed by vocational training in Classes XI and XII, alongside regular education. 

“We can integrate AI and tech into education but that is just a means and not an end. Ultimately, we need to control what happens in a classroom and we need to let teachers innovate their teaching style to suit the needs of Gen Z and beyond,” she said. 

She also pointed to the growing gap between education and workplace requirements, with employers reporting skill gaps among fresh graduates. 

“There is a basic disconnect between what firms want and what the education system is giving,” Bhandari said, adding that students need a combination of socio-emotional, cognitive and technical skills to improve employability. 

The Technocrat Fix 

Nandan Nilekani has been entrusted by the Centre for several initiatives:

• Led the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to implement Aadhaar
• Headed the GST Network (GSTN), overseeing the IT infrastructure for the nationwide rollout of GST
• Played a pivotal role in the development of Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
• Chaired Technical Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP), driving technology-led reforms in public service delivery and financial administration
• Appointed co-chair of the G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure, economic transformation, and financial inclusion
• Served on the Advisory Council of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)