Committee on exams and NTA reforms receive over 37,000 public suggestions

Over 37,000 public recommendations have been submitted to the high-level committee reviewing changes for the National Testing Agency (NTA) and strategies to enhance the way exams are conducted. Of these, 30,000 have been submitted by students and applicants for various competitive exams.

The panel is considering the suggestions and planning to meet a large number of the students whose recommendations are under review. Based on their distinct purposes, the panel is investigating a range of exam options.

For example, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) are used for admission to professional courses, whereas the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) UG and University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) are used for undergraduate admissions in general universities and eligibility tests for PhD admissions, Junior Research Fellowships, and assistant professor appointments, respectively.

The committee also conferred with two experts from IIT Kanpur: Debapriya Roy, an expert in hardware security, side-channel analysis, and applied cryptography, and Amey Karkare, an expert in program analysis, compiler optimizations, software engineering, and machine learning with an emphasis on computer-aided education.

The Ministry of Education constituted a high-level committee on June 22 in response to claims of paper leaks and anomalies in national-level competitive exams like NEET-UG and UGC-NET administered by the NTA. Under the direction of former ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan, the committee seeks to provide fair, easy, and transparent exams.

A day after the UGC-NET 2024 was held, the government canceled it due to rumors of a paper leak on the "darknet." Currently, the Supreme Court is considering numerous petitions asking for the cancellation and re-examination of NEET-UG, following arrests made by Bihar Police and the CBI.

The committee is scheduled to present its recommendations by August 24, having convened for the first time on June 24. According to senior authorities, the group has spoken with representatives from the National Board of Examinations, NTA, National Medical Commission (NMC), UGC, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and other bodies that have vast expertise administering examinations.

As per the accounts of those acquainted with the discussions, the panel is analyzing every exam mode concerning its distinct objectives and quantities and figuring out what safeguards are required to tackle the diverse issues that every exam encounters.

"It is also analyzing the NTA's exam processes from the beginning, including question setting, patterns, and logistics for transferring physical question papers. The panel is expected to make suggestions in these areas as well," said a source.

There are seven members of this committee, including Dr. Radhakrishnan. Other members include Pankaj Bansal, co-founder of PeopleStrong, board member of Karmayogi Bharat, Prof. B. J. Rao, professor Ramamurthy K. of IIT Madras, former director of AIIMS, Dr. Randeep Guleria, vice chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, Prof. Aditya Mittal, the IIT Delhi Dean of Student Affairs, and Govind Jaiswal, the Joint Secretary of the Education Ministry, who are also on the panel.