Over the past decade, India’s education system has been rocked by a series of scams that have exposed vulnerabilities far beyond examination halls. From recruitment fraud to paper leaks, from admission fraud to fake appointment scams, almost every stage of the education ecosystem has come under scrutiny at some point.
High-profile cases such as the Vyapam recruitment and admission scam, the REET and UPTET controversies, the NEET-UG and UGC-NET irregularities, and, most recently, Maharashtra’s TET paper leak, reveal how technology and administrative loopholes have been exploited in different ways.
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The most famous scams the education system faced in the last decade are listed here.
AIPMT Paper Leak in 2015: The All India Pre-Medical Entrance Test was held on May 3, 2015. Reports later claimed that 90 answer keys were leaked electronically to candidates in exchange for ₹15-20 lakh. The Rohtak police arrested seven people, including two doctors and an MBBS student, for the alleged wrongdoing.
CBSE Class 10 Maths & Class 12 Economics Paper Leak in 2018: The papers were leaked and circulated nationally and internationally on WhatsApp. Three teachers, Rishabh, Rohit and Tauqeer, were arrested by the Delhi Police. The Board conducted the re-exam for 28 lakh students.
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REET Paper Leak in 2021: The question papers of Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers, which were held on September 26, 2021, were leaked two days before the exam. According to the police probe, the question paper was stolen from an office of the state education department, thereafter leaked, and the accused have received at least Rs. 1.22 crore in exchange for the paper.
NEET-UG Paper Leak in 2024, 2026: The exam was held on May 5, 2024. The exam faced allegations of question paper leak. In Patna, Bihar, police arrested 13 people, including four examinees, who had allegedly paid 30 to 50 lakh to obtain the question paper beforehand. In Godhra, Gujarat, a raid at an exam centre revealed that a teacher, who was also the deputy superintendent, instructed students not to answer questions they didn’t know, promising to fill in the answers. Five people were arrested, and it was discovered that candidates from multiple states had taken the exam at this centre. The cases were handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
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Similarly, in 2026, the exam was held on May 3, 2026. The paper leak allegations were made. The Centre cancelled the examination and announced a re-exam. The paper leak case was handed over to the CBI, which conducted a comprehensive inquiry into the allegations linked to the exam.
UGC NET cancellation 2024: The exam was held in June 2024. The Ministry of Education cancelled the examination after intelligence reports suggested irregularities in its conduct. The Ministry said that the UGC received inputs from the National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) that the integrity of the exam might have been compromised, after which the decision to cancel the exam was taken. The matter was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a thorough investigation.
Maharashtra TET 2026: The exam, scheduled for June 28, 2026, was postponed by the state government after parts of the question paper were allegedly leaked a day before the examination.
On June 27, the police received confidential information that a few people in Bhiwandi had access to the TET question paper. Acting on the tip-off, the Bhiwandi Police conducted a raid and found that some of the questions in the seized documents matched the actual TET 2026 question paper.
While governments have responded with stricter laws, enhanced digital security and tougher monitoring mechanisms, each new scandal has exposed fresh vulnerabilities in the system.
These paper leaks affect not only students but also the entire education ecosystem.
