Education Minister holds NTA review meet, orders comprehensive audit of exam system

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) After renewed issues surfaced over some examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi held a high-level review meeting on Monday over its functioning and directed it to conduct a comprehensive audit of all examination processes.

The agency is required to review every stage of the examination system, identify any shortcomings, and prepare a report on the measures taken to rectify them, the Ministry of Education said in a statement.

The Secretary of the Department of Higher Education, Director General of the NTA and other senior officials were present in the meeting.

During the meeting, the Education Minister directed that established examination rules be strictly adhered to. Furthermore, he ordered the implementation of complete overhauls on a war footing regarding the confidential operations architecture, the use of separate rooms, air-gapped systems, and protocols for the deposit of electronic devices.

The NTA has been ordered to conduct a thorough audit of all exam processes and submit a report on corrective action taken.

During the meeting, the Education Minister was informed that over 50 staff have been removed from NTA, ten new professional leadership positions (Chief Technology Officer, Chief Finance Officer, CISO, GM, Test Security, GM, R&D and Psychometrics, and others) have been advertised and are being onboarded, and domain specialists are being brought in from the private sector for cyber-security, psychometrics, question-paper design and other specialised areas.

This comes as the NTA on Sunday announced that it will re-conduct the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) for English, Sociology and Commerce after several errors were found in the question papers. This added to the growing criticism over the testing agency’s handling of competitive exams.

During Monday’s review meeting, emphasis was placed on strengthening security arrangements at various levels to safeguard question papers and other sensitive examination materials.

The risk of unauthorised access to sensitive exam content will be mitigated through the use of computer systems isolated from external networks.

Meanwhile, the NTA has commenced recruitment for 10 new professional leadership roles, including key positions like Chief Technology Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Security Officer, and General Managers for Examination Security, as well as for Research & Development and Psychometric Assessment.

The process of appointing experts to these roles is underway. Experts from the private sector are also being brought on board to technically and professionally strengthen the examination system.

The services of these experts will primarily be utilised in areas such as cybersecurity, psychometric assessment, question paper setting, and other specialised technical domains. This initiative aims to enhance expertise in processes related to question paper creation and exam security, while also helping to address potential shortcomings.

–IANS

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