NTA woes: Why a varsity-based entrance exam model works better for India

Eight years since inception, the National Testing Agency (NTA) stands accused of the very things it was meant to eliminate: opacity, lack of accountability and numerous errors.

A high-powered committee, formed last year to suggest reforms to the controversy-riddled NTA, recommended an “empowered and accountable Governing Body with three designated sub-committees to oversee 1) test audit, ethics and transparency, 2) nomination and staff conditions, and 3) stakeholder relationships”.

It is unclear whether all the recommendations of the committee have been adopted, but even with the ones that have, problems have persisted.

Read Part 1 here: Persistent NTA woes show why One Nation One Exam model doesn’t work in India

Postponements since 2018

This year, the NTA informed the University Grants Commission (UGC) that it would not be able to conduct the CUET-UG examination as per the announced schedule. It was, therefore, postponed from May 8 to May 13.

A student of Hindu College in Delhi who took the CUET-UG exam in 2022 said her exam was postponed at the last minute after technical errors. “They made us wait for five hours at the centre and eventually told us to go back as there were problems with the system. Our exam was then rescheduled a month later,” she said.

In July 2024, the Ministry of Education informed the Lok Sabha that the NTA had postponed at least 16 exams for different reasons since 2018.

Also read: NTA flags 'fake' info on NEET-UG paper leaks in Telegram, Instagram channels

Cancellations too

And it’s not just postponement. Exams have been cancelled for various reasons too.

In 2024, the Education Ministry ordered the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam after receiving intel on integrity compromise.

“No complaints were received but the inputs we received from agencies indicated that the integrity of the exam has been compromised. The action was taken suo motu to safeguard the interests of the students,” Education Ministry Joint Secretary Govind Jaiswal had said then. The matter was handed over to the CBI.

This year, too, the CUET-UG was cancelled in a centre in Srinagar, Kashmir, due to “technical problems”. In Centres like Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Dehradun, Patna, Hyderabad, etc., the exam was delayed due to glitches.

“Playing with future of children”

In April, scores of parents took to social media to point out that the JEE Main paper response sheet reflected differently from what students had filled. A man named Pramod Kamath wrote on X, “…my daughter attempted 71 questions. During submission it showed 71 questions attempted & now in the response sheet it is showing ALL questions as unanswered! Shocking! NTA is playing with the future of children (sic).”

With students and parents accusing the NTA of apathy, and the agency refusing to admit blunders at various points, several petitioned the courts, where cases are ongoing.

NTA Director-General Pradeep Singh Kharola did not respond to calls or texts by The Federal asking why the body continues to face such issues despite some “reforms”.

Also read: NTA under fire again – now over 'disputed' questions in JEE Main exam

Public or private?

According to academics, however, there are many issues. One is the issue of the NTA’s nature and structure. “It is a very small outfit with no intellectual base or resources of its own. It has been given the responsibility to organise examinations of a very different nature. It also has no accountability. It is like a private body not responsible to the public,” said DU Professor Apoorvanand.

However, whether the NTA is a private or a public agency is a complicated question. While it comes under the purview of the RTI (Right to Information), its organisational structure is opaque. Apart from the chairperson and the director-general mentioned as member secretary, the others are not mentioned by name, instead being listed only as “members”. The only exception is Dr Harish Shetty.

A “logistical nightmare”

Professor Furqan Qamar, former vice-chancellor of the Rajasthan University and Central University of Himachal Pradesh and former adviser (education) to the Planning Commission, said the NTA has a “systemic problem”.

“There are a number of issues. In CUET particularly, it is a paper-by-paper examination, so the number of examinations they have to conduct is enormous and requires huge logistics. Technology is advancing at a very rapid pace. While they have adopted technology like OMR sheets or online examination with proctoring, they are certainly not keeping pace with the technology,” he said.

“India is too large and diverse a country to be subjected to one single common entrance examination for admission. To be given admission on the basis of the score of a single test to be conducted on a single day in a single shift is a logistical nightmare,” he said.

Also read: NTA 'lapses' in NEET-UG 2024: SC closes case as Centre says it will implement reforms

Unsustainable model

Qamar said the current model was “not sustainable” and needed a rethink of the “One Nation, One Examination” motto.

“I think at a national level there should be a decision on whether it is necessary to admit a student only on the basis of the score of a single test. Most other countries adopt a holistic approach to grant admission where an aptitude test plays a role, where past academic performance has a contribution, their essays, their writing abilities and so on. All of those things are taken into account,” he said.

“A decentralized manner where every university admits students based on their own methods has been working very well... Across the world, barring China and Singapore and a few other countries, it is the universities concerned which admit students. We use the argument that in that case, a student has to appear in many different tests so that is a hassle, but the solution that we have found is causing a much bigger hassle,” he added.