High-level committee formed to improve NTA’s structure and functioning
On Saturday, the education ministry announced the formation of a high-level expert committee to ensure the National Testing Agency‘s (NTA) examinations are transparent, smooth, and fair. Dr. K Radhakrishnan, the former Isro chief, will lead the seven-member group.
The move comes just days after NTA cancelled UGC-NET after its question paper was discovered to have been leaked on darknet. Apart from that, there have been reports of irregularities in NEET, raising controversy about the examination process.
The high-level committeeg has been tasked with recommending changes to the examination process, increasing data security standards, and improving the NTA’s structure and operation.
The committee has been asked to present its report within two months.
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Members of the panel
Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, former Chairman of ISRO and Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT Kanpur, has been nominated to lead the committee. Dr. Randeep Guleria, former Director of AIIMS Delhi; Prof. B J Rao, Vice-Chancellor of Central University of Hyderabad; Prof. Ramamurthy K, Professor Emeritus at the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras; Pankaj Bansal, Co-Founder of People Strong and Board Member of Karmayogi Bharat; Prof. Aditya Mittal, Dean of Student Affairs at IIT Delhi; and Govind Jaiswal, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Education, who will serve as the Member Secretary.
Tasks assigned to the panel
The committee’s principal focus will be on reforming the examination process. This includes assessing the entire inspection process and recommending steps to improve system efficiency and prevent any breaches.
Furthermore, the committee will conduct a thorough evaluation of the NTA’s Standard Operating processes (SOPs) and protocols, identifying ways to tighten these processes and guaranteeing compliance at all levels through a rigorous monitoring mechanism.
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The group will also consider methods to tighten data security protocols. The group will assess the NTA’s existing data security protocols and provide recommendations for improvements. This will entail reviewing current security measures for paper-setting and other examination processes in order to identify methods to make the system more robust and safe.
In addition, the committee will examine the NTA’s organizational structure and operations.
