HRD ministry mulling workshop before setting up Testing

As it works on setting up the National Authority for Testing (NAT), the HRD Ministry is planning to hold a workshop by international experts in the field of aptitude evaluation to learn from global experience.
Sources said experts from ETS, which conducts tests like Graduate Record Examination (GRE) in the US and has vast experience in the field of testing, are likely to attend the workshop.
"In order to gauge international experience in aptitude testing and to use that to chart the future course of action, the HRD ministry is planning a workshop," a source said.
The workshop is expected to be held next month.

The HRD Ministry is working towards establishing NAT to assess the abilities of aspirants before they appear for (JEE-advanced), for entrance into IITs.
The first major task of NAT, proposed to be established in the coming months, would be to conduct tests in the latter half of the year.

The scores obtained in NAT test would form the basis for shortlisting candidates for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-advanced) 2017.
The HRD ministry began working on the proposal for setting up the NAT after a committee constituted by the IIT council recommended changes to entrance examination structure for these prestigious institutes, including setting up of a National Testing Service.

As per the recommendations, the testing service would hold tests on the basis of which around four lakh students would be shortlisted for JEE.
The committee had held that the JEE itself will be on the lines of the current JEE (advanced) and designed to test knowledge in physics, chemistry and mathematics. It will be conducted by the IITs.
The committee had recommended that 40,000 odd examinees would then be given ranks after which they can seek admission to IITs and NITs based on a common counselling.
Many of the recommendations of the Ashok Mishra-led Committee of Eminent Persons (CEP), which submitted its report to the government on November 5 last year, were aimed at weaning away IIT aspirants from coaching institutes.