look news india
To restore credibility and transparency in national level competitive and entrance examinations, the Central Government and the Ministry of Education have National Testing Agency (NTA) There has been a complete overhaul of the entire administrative and operational structure. Following the technical and paper-setting glitches and controversies in the recent examinations, several tough decisions have been taken in the high-level review meeting called by Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi. Under this major reshuffle, the panel of 600 subject experts has been removed with immediate effect, the offices of the agency have been shifted to a new location, permanent deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has been ordered there and a 4-tier checking system is being implemented for flawless preparation of question papers.
600 old experts out, new independent experts will enter
In view of the complaints of factual mistakes, translation errors and leaks in the question papers of the examinations conducted by NTA, the agency has started restructuring its entire examination team.
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Panel Trim: About 600 experts have been removed from the panel that prepared and moderated the question paper.
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New Onboarding: In their place, prestigious universities, research institutes and subject experts of the country are being included afresh after transparent evaluation.
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Appointment of new officers: To strengthen the examination conducting capacity, 20 to 25 new senior administrative and technical officers will be deployed on deputation in the next two to three weeks. Apart from this, 10 major leadership posts related to Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Test Security are also being filled.
What is the 4-tier paper security and scrutiny system? (Four-Tier System)
Now any exam question paper will go through four strict checking levels before it reaches the printing or examination hall:
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Level 1 (Drafting & Content Creation): Creation of questions by subject experts in line with the new curriculum and standards.
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Level 2 (Factual and Language Review): Factual accuracy, spelling, formatting and translation quality of questions are closely checked by independent reviewers, so that students of any language do not get wrong questions.
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Level 3 (Psychometric and Difficulty Level Audit): Technical scrutiny of difficulty level of questions, scope of syllabus and repetition.
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Level 4 (Final Secrecy Moderation): Final code-based review by a high level confidential committee, only after which the question paper will be finalized.
CISF deployment in NTA offices and shifting to new place
Stringent measures have been taken to ensure confidentiality and physical security surrounding the examinations:
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Shifting to War Footing: The offices of NTA are being shifted to a secure new complex on a war footing.
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CISF security cover: The responsibility of 24-hour security of the new complex and confidential operations (CONOPS) areas is now the responsibility of the Paramilitary Force i.e. CISF Will remain with.
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Air-gapped and no-device zones: Computer systems used for sensitive work will be completely ‘air-gapped’ (completely cut off from the Internet or external networks). Any officer or employee will be strictly prohibited from carrying mobile, pen drive or electronic gadget in confidential rooms.
Comprehensive audit report sought in 30 days
The Union Education Ministry has directed the Director General of NTA to conduct a 360-degree audit of all existing protocols, server architecture, CCTV surveillance, biometric frisking and vendor selection of the agency and submit the corrective action report to the ministry within the next 30 days. The government has a clear message that zero-error and 100% fairness will be ensured in all future national examinations like NEET, JEE and UGC-NET.