The Union education ministry on Saturday formed a seven-member committee to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through National Testing Agency (NTA).
The committee will be headed by K. Radhakrishnan, who has served as the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the board of governors (BoG) of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur.
The panel has been formed at a time when NTA is under scanner over the alleged irregularities during the conduct of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduate programs (NEET-UG) this year, cancellation of University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) due to paper leak on darknet, and postponement the CSIR-UGC-NET.
Union education minister Dharmendra Prardhan on Thursday announced that the government will constitute a high-level panel to bring reforms in NTA, while emphasising that there is a need for improvement in the functioning of NTA.
According to a statement issued by the ministry, the committee will make recommendations on reform in the mechanism of the examination process, improvement in data security protocols, and structure and functioning of the NTA. It will submit its report to the ministry within two months.
“The committee will analyse the end-to-end examination process and suggest measures to improve efficiency of the system and to forestall any possible breach. It will conduct a thorough review of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)/Protocols of the NTA and suggest measures to strengthen these procedures/protocols along with monitoring mechanisms to ensure compliance at every level,” the ministry said.
It will evaluate the existing data security processes and protocols of NTA and recommend measures for its improvement. “It will examine the existing security protocols related to the paper-setting and other processes for different examinations and make recommendations to enhance the robustness of the system,” the ministry said.
Besides, it will make recommendations on the organisational structure and functioning of the NTA for implementation of its recommendations and clearly define the roles and responsibilities of functionaries at every level.
“It will also assess the current Grievance Redressal Mechanism of the NTA, identify areas of improvement and make recommendations for enhancing its efficiency,” the ministry said.
The other members of the committee include former All India Institue of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-Delhi director Randeep Guleria, vice chancellor of the Central University of Hyderabad, Professor B J Rao, Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, professor Ramamurthy K, Co-Founder, People Strong and Board Member- Karmayogi Bharat, Pankaj Bansal, Dean Student Affairs, IIT Delhi, Professor Aditya Mittal, and joint secretary, Ministry of Education, Govind Jaiswal.
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