New Delhi: Investment in question banks, setting up question papers too close to the exam and relying on bona fide experts from IITs, IIMs and AIIMS to develop question banks and translation are among the solutions against paper leaks suggested by a Parliamentary panel.
The department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports headed by Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Wasnik presented a report on ‘Reforms and Strengthening of the National Testing Agency’ (NTA) to the Rajya Sabha chairman on Friday.
The report follows a controversy surrounding the NEET paper leak and administrative lapses in the NTA, which led to nationwide student protests and ultimately the resignation of then-Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The panel noted that investment in question banks is the most viable defence against paper leaks in the long run.
“The repeated use of the same question sets or the practice of having examiners set new question papers every year can be a risk to the integrity of the examination process. The Committee, therefore, is of the view that the NTA should invest in building a large, diverse and continuously updated question bank, which can be drawn on to set papers without the advance knowledge of the question-setters,” the report said.
The Centre had announced that from next year, the medical entrance exam – NEET-UG – will be conducted as a computer-based test (CBT), and not in pen-and-paper mode.
“The Committee notes that in the CBT format, question papers no longer have to be printed and transported to the examination centres. Therefore, there is no compulsion to set question papers long in advance.
“Accordingly, the final question papers should be set very close to the examination, with questions drawn from the question bank using digital tools and only vetted by experts,” it said.
The panel emphasised strict quarantine and sequestering of the final paper-vetters until the conclusion of the examination.
“The NTA must rely on bona fide experts from our most renowned educational institutions, including IITs, AIIMSs, IIMs, etc., to develop its question banks and for translation.
“The NTA must also develop a system to check the track record of the said experts to establish their integrity and to rule out any conflict of interest (e.g., owners or faculty of private coaching centres, family members giving the exam, etc.) before recruiting them,” it said.
Raising concerns about the accessibility of CBT to students from remote regions and marginalised backgrounds, the panel has recommended that the transition to CBT be accompanied by a concerted national testing strategy to maximise digital accessibility.
PTI