The National Testing Agency (NTA) continues to make mistakes despite cancellation and postponement of competitive exams because of question paper leaks and other irregularities, affecting public confidence in the assessment process, a parliamentary panel has said.
The all-party Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education headed by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh on Monday tabled its report on the "Review of Autonomous Bodies and Institutions”, recommending that the government refrain from involving any blacklisted firm in the conduct of public exams.
The NTA conducts the JEE (Main) engineering entrance test, the NEET medical entrance exam, the UGC NET to select university-level teachers and researchers, and the CUET for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses in central universities. The NTA holds both pen-and-paper tests (PPT) and computer-based tests (CBT).
“The Committee reiterates that the NTA’s performance in the last year has not inspired much confidence,” the report said.
“The Committee therefore recommends that the NTA needs to quickly get their act together so that such instances, which otherwise are fully avoidable, do not occur in future,” it added.
The panel said several firms involved in paper setting, administration and correction have been blacklisted by some organisation or state government, yet they manage to secure contracts from other states or organisations.
“The Committee is of the view that such blacklisted firms must not be engaged for any entrance test by the NTA or the State Governments. The Committee therefore recommends that the Department should compile a nationwide list of blacklisted firms along with the persons or entities that constitute such firms so as to prevent such firms/ persons/ entities from securing future contracts,” the report said.
It recommended timely conduct of CUET and early release of results to help institutions plan their academic activities properly. The panel suggested that greater focus should be given to the conduct of tests in the PPT mode.
