After the first failure, the re-examination of NEET was conducted without any major problem. But India’s examination crisis is not limited to paper leaks only. This must be recognized as a systemic failure. The National Testing Agency (NTA) had canceled NEET-UG on May 12, even though a few days before that, 22.7 lakh candidates had appeared for it. This was the second such incident in two years. Canceling examinations may be necessary at times, but it ultimately penalizes honest students who followed the rules. India is still trying to conduct some of the largest and most important examinations in the world through a mechanism that has not yet been updated to suit the scale, complexity and incentives of the present times. This is not a problem that can be handled with immediate monitoring measures. The scale on which examinations are conducted in India has no other example in the world. NTA conducted 244 examinations between 2018 and 2023. During this period, the number of candidates almost doubled from about 67 lakh to about 122 lakh. In NEET alone, 22-24 lakh candidates appear at a time. There were 134.2 lakh registered candidates for China’s Gaokao exam in 2024, while South Korea’s CSAT exam had about 5.54 lakh applicants for 2026. India’s NEET exam is smaller than Gaokao, but much bigger than Korea’s only national exam. And unlike China or Korea, India does not conduct a single centrally conducted examination every year. Our examination system is continuous, federal, multilingual and comprehensive. That is why the model of China or Korea will not work for us. China and Korea can organize the entire machinery of state around a decisive test. India cannot turn the entire polity into an exam security system ten times a year. We need a system tailored to Indian scale, which is robust, modular, technology-enabled, decentralized in operations, but centralized in standards. After the controversies of 2024 national examinations, Dr. K. The high-level committee constituted under the chairmanship of Radhakrishnan had recognized precisely this challenge. Its report proposed a comprehensive reform framework for transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through the NTA. The message was clear: we need a new system for examinations. The first reform should be institutional. Technology cannot compensate for a weak institution; At best, it can only give digital form to the weaknesses of the system. India needs to rebuild NTA as a permanent, professional and mission-based assessment body with deep internal capabilities in areas such as psychometrics, cyber security, logistics, data analysis, paper-setting, vendor management and law enforcement. An agency with limited capacity – heavily dependent on private vendors, temporary invigilators and outsourced processes – cannot handle India’s most important examinations. The second improvement should be in the process of paper-setting. The most secure question paper is one which no one person can ever see in its entirety. This is the major strength of UPSC and JEE Advanced: large and anonymous panels, tiered system, multiple parallel paper sets, randomization and minimal access to private intermediaries. This framework ensures that even if any link in the system gets affected, the entire test is not affected. The third reform should be technical, but the technology should work in accordance with the system. The future lies in large and constantly updated question banks, computer-based exams, and adaptive testing over time. We will also have to prepare a digital examination framework. The Radhakrishnan Committee’s proposal to develop 1,000 Kendriya Vidyalayas and other trusted public institutions as safe examination centers should be implemented. The identification and monitoring system will also have to be strengthened. AI can also be used as a forensic tool. The fate of a student cannot be controlled by any one morning. Multi-stage examinations, more opportunities, normalized scoring and transparent grievance redressal system are necessary. We can improve the system by reducing the black-market value of a single question paper. (These are the author’s own views)
Source link
Amitabh Kant’s column: The country needs a new system for examinations
