New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) A Parliamentary Standing Committee examining the role of the National Testing Agency (NTA) in the wake of NEET UG paper leak and cancellation Friday called for a legislative mechanism to ensure the agency’s accountability to both Houses of Parliament.
Noting that trust in the examinations conducted by the NTA was a matter of social justice and national integrity, the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, in its detailed report today said, “The education department may introduce appropriate Parliamentary framework that ensures NTA’s accountability to Parliament.”
The committee, while recognizing NTA’s past efforts at improvement, said the cancellation of NEET (UG) 2026 implies that further improvement is necessary.
The NTA on May 12 cancelled the NEET (UG) 2026 exam conducted on May 3 amid allegations of paper leak.
“Organised networks that profit from examination fraud are adaptive and resourceful, and will always seek the weakest link in the chain. The NTA therefore needs adequate staff, robust security protocols, clear accountability mechanisms, and digitalization of operations and examinations to ensure that it stays ahead of any challenges,” said the panel.
Among major reforms the panel suggested are conduct of examinations in the computer based test model instead of pen and paper and also involvement of government owned and operated centres to hold entrance tests and reduction in reliance on private centres.
The committee further recommended broad basing of question banks and suggested that students who arrive later at exam centres be allowed to sit for the test after recording an undertaking.
“The Committee notes that investment in question banks is the most viable defense against paper leaks in the long-run. The repeated use of the same question sets or the practice of having examiners set new question papers every year can be a risk to the integrity of the examination process.
“The Committee, therefore, is of the view that NTA should invest in building a large, diverse, and continuously updated question bank which can be drawn on to set papers without the advance knowledge of the question-setters,” said the panel. PTI SKC ZMN
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