NEW DELHI: National Testing Agency (NTA) has removed 600 experts from its panels and begun onboarding new specialists, while deciding to subject every paper to four levels of scrutiny before an examination.NTA director general apprised education minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday of the measures at a follow-up review meeting. The agency informed the ministry that it will also induct 20-25 officials over the next two to three weeks and shift its offices to new premises on a “war footing”, with CISF teams deployed to reinforce security.4-tier check to boost scrutiny at different stages of paper settingEducation minister Pralhad Joshi, it is learned, has directed that all necessary security and infrastructural arrangements be completed at the earliest. The agency’s wider recruitment plan was also reviewed.The four-tier checking mechanism is to strengthen scrutiny at different stages of question-paper preparation, and detect factual, language, translation and formatting errors before papers are finalised. The move comes after serious defects in English, Commerce and Sociology question papers.NTA had received several complaints about the three papers. A committee subsequently found multiple factual, typographical and translation errors, wrongly worded questions and significant repetition.It concluded that the defects were too extensive.Tuesday’s meeting followed Joshi’s first review on Monday, when he ordered a comprehensive audit of NTA’s examination processes and sought a report on corrective action taken.
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He also directed an overhaul of the agency’s confidential operations, including secluded rooms for sensitive work, air-gapped computer systems and device-deposit protocols.Officials had separately informed the minister that over 50 NTA staff had been removed as part of the agency’s broader restructuring. The action was not linked to errors in the three papers.NTA is also filling 10 professional leadership posts, including chief technology officer, chief finance officer, chief information security officer and general managers for test security, research and psychometrics. Private-sector specialists are being inducted in areas such as cybersecurity, psychometrics and question-paper design.
