NTA must be scrapped or reformed? Experts answer critical question after UGC-NET, NEET exam cancellation row | Mint
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has been grounded in controversy since the NEET UG paper leak row. The central agency, which was envisaged in November 2017 as a single agency for conducting all higher education entrance exams, is under scanner after cancellation of UGC NET exam for three subjects. Three premiers from the education sector pointed out the flaws within the system and suggested ways to reform its functioning.
Former UGC chairman suggests 4 checks to reform NTA
Former UGC chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar in an interview with PTI acknowledged that concerns over NTA’s operations were reasonable but argued that the issue should be seen as an end-to-end examination-security challenge. According to him, the long-term solution is continuous risk assessment, fewer people handling confidential material, digital traceability and independent checks at every stage.
Emphasizing that the government and the NTA have introduced several reform measures, he said that the above-mentioned checks can steadily make breaches much harder and protect students’ trust.
He alleged that issue of irregularities in the conduct of national level competitive exams can be addressed through deep structural strengthening but he would not recommend dividing exams among multiple agencies merely to reduce the visible workload. Arguing that the real issue is the complexity behind each exam rather than the number of exams, he said mere scrapping of NTA is not a possible solution.
JNU economics professor calls NTA structurally ‘weak’
In contrast to Jagadesh Kumar’s suggestions, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) economics professor Surajit Mazumdar recommended scrapping of NTA, arguing that several exams under one agency create greater incentives for those involved in paper leaks.
Surajit Mazumdar blamed limited administrative capacities of NTA as he noted that the total workload becomes much higher when all exams are conducted by a central agency.
“All the organisations that conducted entrance exams earlier had decades of experience. The NTA does not have that kind of history. You put a set of people from the government into that body, and they have to try and conduct these exams with such a thin administration,” PTI quoted Mazumdar as saying. He added, “So structurally, it is weak, which means that you have to outsource so many activities. And outsourcing creates greater risk for leaks.”
He further asserted that centralisation of everything doesn’t make sense because India is a vast and diverse country.
AISA president recommends decentralised federal system over NTA
All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora reasoned that NTA’s published mandate and its very structure are in glaring contradiction to one another. Neha Bora, who became a key face of the Jantar Mantar protest, said the biggest gap in the NTA system seems to be the outsourcing of all possible tasks.
“On the one hand, the proclaimed mission of the NTA is to ensure efficient, transparent and fair assessment of international standards, but on the other, the NTA does not even have 25 employees to conduct about 30 national-level exams through the year,” Neha Bora said as reported by PTI.
Contending that the agencies that conducted these exams could have been held accountable within a system of checks and balances, she called for abolishment of the NTA and its replacement with public agencies. She recommended a decentralised federal system that is accountable to people and transparent.