Following backlash, the higher education ministry on Friday formed a high-level experts panel to recommend measures to reform the National Testing Agency and improve data security.
In a release, the ministry said the committee will make recommendations on reforming the mechanism of the examination process, improvement in data security protocols and the structure and functioning of NTA. The seven-member committee headed by former ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan has experts from all fields.
The committee includes Dr Randeep Guleria, Former Director, AIIMS-Delhi; B.J. Rao, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Hyderabad; K. Ramamurthy, Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT-Madras; Pankaj Bansal, Co-founder, People Strong and Board Member- Karmayogi Bharat; Aditya Mittal, Dean Student Affairs, IIT-Delhi and Govind Jaiswal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Education.
As per terms of reference of the committee, it will “analyse the end-to-end examination process and suggest measures to improve the efficiency of the system and to forestall any possible breach”. The committee will also review the standard operating procedures of NTA and suggest measures to strengthen them.
The committee will also study existing data security measures of NTA and suggest improvements, it will also examine existing security protocols related to the paper-setting.
The panel will also make recommendations regarding the organizational structure and functioning of the NTA. The committee has to submit its report to the ministry within two months.
The Centre’s move comes following allegations of malpractices in the conduct of NEET-UG and UGC-NET examinations conducted by NTA. The agency had to announce retest for over 1,500 aspirants after the Supreme Court struck down grace marks awarded by the agency to compensate for lost time. It also cancelled UGC-NET examinations after it found the integrity of the exam was compromised. The Union Education Ministry said the UGC-NET will be conducted afresh and that the matter will be probed by the CBI.