A high-level committee formed by the Ministry of Education to suggest reforms for the National Testing Agency (NTA) has submitted its recommendations to the Supreme Court. The sources mentioned, the committee, chaired by former ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan, has proposed key changes aimed at streamlining the NEET-UG examination process and enhancing the overall efficiency of the NTA.
The sources stated, one of the committee's major recommendations is to limit the number of attempts candidates can make for the NEET-UG exam, which is conducted for admission to medical courses. Currently, there is no restriction on the number of attempts, and students often appear for the exam multiple times, averaging seven to eight attempts each. To manage this, the committee suggested capping the number of attempts to four, similar to the practice for JEE-Main, the entrance exam for engineering courses. This move is expected to help reduce the number of repeat candidates and manage the overall exam process more effectively. Moreover, at present, NEET-UG is conducted only once a year, unlike JEE-Main, which is held twice annually.
Further, another significant recommendation by the committee is to phase out outsourcing for conducting exams. The panel emphasized that the responsibility for conducting these examinations should remain entirely under the purview of NTA to ensure reliability and transparency. Additionally, the committee also suggested developing Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas as permanent exam centers across the country to create a standardized, controlled environment for test-takers.
It is pertinent to note that the high-level committee by the Ministry of the Education was constituted on June 22, 2024, following Supreme Court directives, in response to complaints regarding irregularities in the NEET-UG exam. The committee included members including K. Radhakrishnan, who has served as the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), former AIIMS Delhi director Randeep Guleria, educationist BJ Rao, experts K. Ramamurthy and Pankaj Bansal, Aditya Mittal, and Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Govind Jaiswal.
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