"Parliamentary Panel Seeks Structural Overhaul of Testing Agency"
Computer-Based Testing (CBT)
exam mode where candidates answer on computers at a centre instead of on paper
Question bank
a large, regularly updated pool of pre-vetted questions used to assemble exam papers
The National Testing Agency (NTA) was set up in 2017 under the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education to conduct major national entrance exams like NEET-UG, JEE (Main) and CUET, serving over a crore candidates every year. It was meant to replace scattered, less accountable state and board-level testing with one professional body. Because NEET-UG is the sole gateway to MBBS and BDS admissions across the country, any failure in its conduct affects lakhs of aspirants and raises questions of fairness under Article 14 (equality before law) and Article 16 (equality of opportunity).
Following the NEET-UG paper leak case, a CBI chargesheet exposed serious gaps in how the NTA worked: weak physical security such as no frisking near the confidential question-paper section, poor CCTV coverage, and short footage retention. It also found that subject experts who set and vet question papers were chosen informally, through personal references, with no written rules or conflict-of-interest checks. Parliament's Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act criminalises exam fraud, but a law alone cannot fix weak internal processes. It is against this background that the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, headed by a Rajya Sabha member, prepared its 382nd report on strengthening the NTA.
The committee's central recommendation is a large, continuously updated question bank, so that papers are set close to the exam date instead of long in advance, cutting the time during which a leak can occur. In computer-based testing (CBT), papers do not need to be printed and transported, so there is no need to fix them weeks ahead. The report wants questions drawn from this bank using digital tools and checked by experts, with those final paper-vetters kept under strict quarantine until the exam ends, a mechanism meant to prevent any vetter from leaking content afterward.
On who sets the questions, the committee wants the NTA to use bona fide experts from top institutions like the IITs and AIIMS, and to formally verify their track record and integrity to rule out conflicts of interest, such as a question-setter also running a coaching centre. …
Consider the following statements regarding the National Testing Agency (NTA):
1.It was established under the Ministry of Education to conduct major national entrance examinations.
2.NEET-UG is the sole gateway examination for admission to MBBS and BDS programmes in India.
3.The NTA was created through a constitutional amendment.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The Parliamentary Standing Committee's 382nd Report on the National Testing Agency recommended which of the following measures?
1.Setting final question papers very close to the examination date.
2.Quarantining paper-vetters until the examination concludes.
3.Establishing a national registry of blacklisted examination vendors.
4.Phasing out all private examination centres immediately with no transition.
How many of the above are correctly recommended by the Committee?
With reference to examination security reforms recommended for the National Testing Agency, consider the following statements:
1.Computer-based testing removes the need to print and transport question papers physically.
2.The Committee recommended using only in-house NTA staff, with no external subject experts, to prepare question banks.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Which of the following infrastructure measures has the Parliamentary Standing Committee recommended to support the transition to computer-based testing for examinations like NEET-UG?
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