India's National Testing Agency to be restructured for better exams, says review panel

If India aspires to be a knowledge economy, establishing a robust, foolproof testing agency to accurately assess and grade students' capabilities and expertise is indispensable. GoI set up the National Testing Agency (NTA) in 2017 to achieve this goal: conducting entrance exams for admissions and recruitment for various universities and higher education bodies. But the NEET-UG paper leak earlier this year exposed significant flaws in NTA, prompting GoI to establish a panel under former Isro chief K Radhakrishnan to review its processes and mandates.

On Tuesday, the panel released its report, recommending the restructuring of NTA and keeping its primary focus on conducting entrance exams. It advocates that NTA should focus solely on higher education entrance exams, not recruitment exams, perfecting their delivery by improving internal capacity and functionality. To achieve this, it emphasises engaging qualified personnel and strengthening linkages with institutions and regulators on whose behalf NTA administers tests. This is good advice. It also suggests setting up a governing body with three designated sub-committees to oversee test audit, ethics and transparency, nomination and staff conditions, and stakeholder relationships. Also, stronger measures to curb malpractice, including improved systems and access, more robust authentication processes, and better student interfaces and testing methods are required. Root causes like weaknesses in school education and growing reliance on coaching schools are also identified.

The panel provides a clear pathway for building a robust institution. The education ministry, now reviewing the report, should incorporate its suggestions. NTA will always be a work-in-progress, as it should be.