India has been rocked by a ‘question paper leak’ scandal. Papers of two entrance-level examinations – NEET-UG and UGC-NET – have reportedly been circulated before the test.At the centre of the controversies is the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the exams on behalf of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
As the Centre faces Opposition ire over the
cancellation of UGC-NET and the discrepancies in conducting NEET-UG
, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said that a high-level committee will be formed to look into the matter and the functioning of the NTA.
However, this is not the first controversy involving the exam body. Here’s a look at its rather dubious report card.
What is the National Testing Agency (NTA)?
The NTA was established in 2017 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education’s Department of Higher Education. It was formed to conduct entrance exams for admission and fellowship in higher educational institutions.
The NTA is responsible for assessing the “competence of candidates” for admission and recruitment. It is in charge of test preparation, test delivery and test marking, according to its website.
The objective of the NTA is to a) conduct efficient, transparent and international standards tests in order to assess the competency of candidates for admission, and recruitment purposes b) To undertake research on educational, professional and testing systems to identify gaps in the knowledge systems and take steps for bridging them c) to identify experts and institutions in setting examination questions d) to produce and disseminate information and research on education and professional development standards
Who runs the NTA?
The testing body comprises education administrators, experts, and researchers who work with various state governments, universities and state education boards.
The chairperson of the NTA is Prof (Retd) Pradeep Kumar Joshi. He was also the former chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission.
He helms the governing body of the NTA. Subodh Kumar Singh, an IAS officer, serves as the director general of the group. The other members include three directors of IITs (who are preceding and succeeding chairpersons of JEE Advanced), two directors of NITS (who preceded and succeeded the chairperson of the Central Seat Allocation Board), two directors of IIMs (preceding the chairpersons of the CAT exam), the director of IISER, Pune, the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, the vice-chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University, the chairman of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), and Dr Harish Shetty, a renowned psychiatrist.
What exams does the NTA conduct?
The NTA conducts the two examinations, which are now under the scanner – the NEET-UG [National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate)] for admission in medical programmes across India and the UGC-NET for admission to roles of assistant professors and junior research fellowships and PhD programmes in universities and colleges across the country.
It also conducts the Joint Entrance Examination (Main), which is the test required for admission to prestigious engineering universities like IITs and NITs, the JEE (Advanced), for admissions into IIT, the CUET (Common University Entrance Test) for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, CMAT (Common Management Admission Test) for admission in management programmes approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and GPAT (Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test) for admission of pharmacy graduates in Masters programmes.
Why is the NTA facing heat?
The NEET-UG has been in the spotlight amid allegations of a
paper leak
and
grace marks
given to 1,500 students after an unusually high number got the perfect score. The Centre has now decided to hold a reexamination for them.
The case continues to unravel after the arrest of four people in Bihar. The arrested aspirants confessed that they received some questions and their answers a night before the exam, which was held on 5 May.
A review of the NEET exam also found “non-compliance” at several exam centres, according to a report in The Indian Express. The third party, which reviewed 399 of the 4,000 exam centres on the day of the test, found that 186 (46 per cent) did not have CCTV cameras as mandated. The ‘live’ footage of these cameras is transmitted to the central control room at the NTA headquarters, which is to be monitored by an expert team.
In sixty-eight centres, the strong room, which is to be guarded until the question papers are distributed, did not have a guard. And at 83 centres the biometric staff was not the same as the designated staff, reports The Indian Express.
The other row involves the NET exam, which was cancelled by the education ministry, a day after it was conducted, affecting nine lakh students. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an FIR in the case on Thursday after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced that the UGC-NET exam paper was leaked on the darknet, an encrypted portion of the internet which is not visible to the public using regular search engines.
What are the other controversies involving NTA?
The NEET and NET row is just the latest in the list of NTA’s many alleged follies.
In the JEE Main Session 1 2024 exam, some students alleged that there was an error in the percentile calculation, claiming there was a difference in marks and percentile predictions. However, NTA dismissed the allegations and said that the students were awarded as per their performance and there was no error.
Students also alleged uneven distribution of candidates across shifts, claiming two had more students than others, leading to discrepancies. However, NTA clarified that the allocation of shifts and slots was randomly determined by a computer. The content of question papers was similar and these were randomly assigned to each shift, without prior knowledge of their difficulty levels, it claimed, according to a report in The Print.
In Session 2 of the JEE Main exam, the NTA reported one case of impersonation and nine cases of cheating, or unfair means.
In 2022, the CBI unearthed a racket involving NEET-UG held in July of that year. It arrested eight people including the alleged mastermind and those who impersonated the real candidates during the test.
In the same exam, 100 women appearing at an exam centre in Kerala’s Kollam were asked to remove their bras. According to the dress code, students are not allowed to wear any metallic object or accessories while entering the exam hall and the women were asked to take off their innerwear at the metal detection stage.
The NTA was also criticised for poor management of the JEE (Main) 2022 examination, which saw many students facing technical issues, which resulted in lower scores.
In 2021, the JEE Main was compromised after a Russian national Mikhail Shargen hacked the exam software, which benefited over 800 candidates. The breach helped students to cheat as teachers or coaches could take charge of their computers and appear for the test, reports NDTV.
In 2020, the NTA mistakenly declared that Vidhi Suryavanshi from Madhya Pradesh scored only six marks in NEET-UG. However, this was later discovered to be inaccurate after she died by suicide; her score was 590.
Another student Mridul Rawat was earlier given low scores in the same exam. However, after re-evaluation of the answer key, it was revealed that he was the all-India topper in the ST category.
Now trouble mounts for the exam body. It remains to be seen whether it will clear in what appears to be its biggest test.
With inputs from agencies
Link to article –
