The panel has suggested that the Centre should collaborate with state governments to conduct these exams, mirroring the election process in which the entire state administrative machinery, down to the district collector, is roped in.
Drawing parallels with the conduct of general elections, a high-level committee — set up by the Education Ministry and chaired by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan — has proposed a similar framework for holding important national entrance tests like the NEET, CUET and UGC-NET in order to ensure transparency and efficiency.
While the seven-member committee of experts, set up in June this year after the National Testing Agency (NTA) came under fire following the NEET-UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate) paper leak, submitted its recommendations to the Ministry of Education in October, these were made public on Tuesday.
On NEET, Pradhan said: “The Health Ministry is the administrative ministry. The appropriate mode for the exam, computer-based or pen-and-paper…will be fulfilled based on what the Health Ministry recommends. We are ready for both. The NTA is the service provider. The administrative ministry will decide in which mode the exam will be conducted.”
The committee of experts has been tasked with making recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the exam process, improvement in data security protocol and the structure and functioning of the NTA.