Facing criticism, student protests and wrath of opposition parties over ‘rigging’ of entrance and other public examinations, the Government has constituted a high-level committee to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through National Testing Agency (NTA).
Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts to make recommendations on:
- Reform in mechanism of examination process,
- Improvement in Data Security protocols.
- Structure and functioning of National Testing Agency
The following shall be the Chairman and Members of the High-Level Committee. Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Former Chairman, ISRO and Chairman BoG, IIT Kanpur, will be the chairman of the committee. Govind Jaiswal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India, will act as the member secretary of the committee.
The following are its five members:
Dr. Randeep Guleria, Former Director, AIIMS Delhi.3
Prof. B J Rao, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Hyderabad.4
Prof. Ramamurthy K, Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras.
Shri Pankaj Bansal, Co-Founder, People Strong and Board Member- Karmayogi Bharat.
Prof. Aditya Mittal, Dean Student Affairs, IIT Delhi
The Terms of Reference of the committee are as follows;
(i) Reform in mechanism of examination process
(a) To analyse the end-to-end examination process and suggest measures to improve efficiency of the system and to forestall any possible breach.
(b) To 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 mechanism to ensure compliance at every level.
(ii) Improvement in Data Security protocols
(a) To evaluate the existing data security processes and protocols of NTA and recommend measures for its improvement.
(b) To examine existing security protocols related to the paper-setting and other processes for different examinations and make recommendations to enhance robustness of system.
(iii) Structure & Functioning of National Testing Agency
(a) To make recommendations on the organizational structure and functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA) for implementation of recommendations given under point (i) and (ii) and clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of functionaries at every level.
(b) Assess the current Grievance Redressal Mechanism of the NTA, identify areas of improvement and make recommendations for enhancing its efficiency.
The Committee shall submit its report to the Ministry within two months from the date of issue of this order.
The Committee can co-opt any Subject Matter Expert to assist them.
