Centre's panel on exam reforms mulls reduced outsourcing, online exams

Minimising outsourcing of staff and exam centres, holding maximum entrance exams online and capping the number of attempts in major entrances are among the measures being contemplated by a high-level panel set up by the Centre to review functioning of National Testing Agency (NTA).

The Centre had on October 21 sought two weeks time from the Supreme Court to submit the final report of the panel led by former ISRO chief R Radhakrishnan.

"The report is almost ready. Several recommendations are being made to streamline the functioning of NTA and the conduct of major entrance exams in the country," a source said.

Among the recommendations that the panel is likely to make are reducing offline exams or opting for hybrid exams where switching to online mode completely is not feasible; capping the number of attempts in major exams including medical entrance NEET and reducing the role of outsourced staff and centres to ensure sanctity of exams is not affected.

"The panel held 22 meetings to address the complexities involved in conducting such large-scale exams, the risks and the security measures. The panel had also sought suggestions from stakeholders including students and parents and took into account over 37000 suggestions received," the source said.

In the line of fire over alleged irregularities in the medical entrance examination NEET and PhD entrance NET, the Centre had in July set up the panel to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations by NTA.

While NEET was under the scanner over several irregularities, including alleged leaks, UGC-NET was cancelled as the ministry received inputs that the integrity of the exam had been compromised. Both matters are being probed by the CBI.

Two other exams CSIR-UGC NET and NEET PG were cancelled at the last moment as a pre-emptive step.

The panel also includes former AIIMS Delhi director Randeep Guleria, Central University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor B J Rao, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Madras K Ramamurthy, People Strong co-founder and Karmayogi Bharat board member Pankaj Bansal, IIT Delhi Dean of Student Affairs Aditya Mittal and MoE Joint Secretary Govind Jaiswal.

The committee was also been tasked with examining the existing security protocols related to the setting of the papers and other processes for various examinations and making recommendations to enhance the robustness of the system.

The panel had also opted two IIT Kanpur academicians as members -- Amey Karkare, professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Debapriya Roy, assistant professor.