Committee on NTA reforms to plug irregularities, engage with parents

The seven-member panel met on Monday evening, under the chairmanship of former Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Radhakrishnan

The high-level committee of experts constituted by the Ministry of Education to recommend reforms in the National Testing Agency (NTA) will prioritise engaging with parents and students, besides setting up a robust and foolproof exam mechanism, a senior member of the panel said.

The seven-member committee met on Monday evening, under the chairmanship of former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Dr Radhakrishnan said that the first priority of the committee would be meeting students and parents to understand their difficulties. “Our top priority is to ensure a transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations,” he said.

“Another top priority will be to set up a robust and foolproof exam mechanism process that would also be tamper-proof. The intention is to set up such a transparent exam process as soon as possible,” he added.

The Centre had formed the seven-member high-level committee last week to oversee transparency amid controversy over the cancellation of UGC-National Eligibility Test (NET) exam and irregularities in conducting the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG).

The move to form the committee came after the removal of the then-NTA director general Subodh Kumar Singh and the notification of rules of the anti-paper leak Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act by the Centre.

The committee has been asked to submit its report to the education ministry within two months, making recommendations on reform in the mechanism of the examination process, improvement in data security protocols and structure and functioning of NTA.

The terms of reference for the committee include analysing the end-to-end examination process and suggest measures to improve efficiency of the system, forestall any possible breach and conduct a thorough review of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) of the NTA, suggesting measures to strengthen these procedures to ensure compliance at every level.

The high-level committee will also examine existing security protocols related to the paper setting and other processes for different examinations and make recommendations to enhance the robustness of the system.