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The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education has flagged irregularities in examinations despite reforms initiated by the government and called upon the National Testing Agency (NTA) to publish a time-bound roadmap for implementing the recommendations of the High-Level Committee of Experts (HLCE).
The committee is headed by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh. It presented the report 'Action Taken by the Government on the recommendations/Observations contained in the Three Hundred and Sixty Fourth Report on Demands for Grants (2025-26) of the Department of Higher Education' to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishan on Tuesday. "The Committee notes the steps taken by the Ministry, including the constitution of the High-Powered Steering Committee headed by Dr. K. Radhakrishnan to monitor the implementation of recommendations of HLCE. However, despite these measures, the paper irregularities are still happening, leading to the cancellation of the examinations, thereby causing a lot of anxiety among students," the report stated. The Committee called upon the NTA to "publish a time-bound implementation roadmap for the HLCE recommendations at the earliest." NTA has faced scrutiny and criticism following the cancellation of the NEET-UG examination with CBI probing the "paper leak". The Committee had earlier endorsed the Education Minister's remarks that "a lot of improvement is needed in the NTA," and recommended that the agency expedite the implementation of the Radhakrishnan Committee's recommendations. It also suggested that the Department of Higher Education and the NTA conduct wider consultations with stakeholders to develop a foolproof protocol for the administration of nationwide competitive examinations. In its Action Taken response, the Ministry of Education stated that the NTA, established in 2018 as a specialised organisation to conduct entrance and fellowship examinations for higher education institutions, has conducted over 250 examinations involving more than 5.5 crore candidates. The Ministry informed the Committee that a High-Level Committee of Experts was constituted on June 22, 2024, to recommend reforms in examination mechanisms, data security protocols, and the structure and functioning of the NTA. The HLCE submitted its report to the Ministry on October 21, 2024. According to the Ministry, the HLCE recommended reforms in national common entrance testing, strengthening of the NTA, institutional linkages with states, and greater involvement of test-indenting agencies as knowledge and examination partners. (ANI)
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