NTA removes 50 staff, Centre orders audit of exam processes – The Tribune

A day after the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced re-conducting the UGC-NET exams for English, Sociology, and Commerce owing to errors in the question papers, more than 50 staff have been removed from NTA.

In a meeting with the Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Director General of NTA, on Monday, Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi directed that the testing agency should conduct a thorough audit of all exam processes and submit a report on corrective action taken in a month.

The Minister was apprised that the testing agency has advertised for ten new professional leadership positions including chief technology officer, chief finance officer, chief information security officer, general manager, test security, R&D and psychometrics.

“Domain specialists are being brought in from the private sector for cyber-security, psychometrics, question-paper design and other specialised areas,” an official from the ministry said.

Joshi also directed that strict compliance be ensured of the established exam protocols. He also directed the NTA that a Complete overhaul of Confidential Operations (CONOPS) architecture, secluded rooms, air-gapped systems, device-deposit protocols be implemented on war footing.

At the NTA, CONOPS refers to the highly restricted system used for the creation, editing, translation, vetting and handling of examination question papers.

Last week, NTA has invited veterans from intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the armed forces, as well as professionals with experience in securing critical infrastructure, to join its command centre responsible for securing high-stakes examinations.

NTA conducted the UGC-NET from 22 to 30 June across 87 subjects, for the award of Junior Research Fellowship, eligibility for assistant professor and admission to PhD programmes.

Candidates claimed the sociology paper had several spelling, grammar and translation mistakes, including the names of renowned sociologists’ being misspelt as “Putzer” instead of “Ritzer” and “Nusbaut” instead of “Nussbaum”. There were also allegations that a significant number of questions in the English paper had been repeated from previous years.

The UGC-NET English and Commerce papers will be held on September 9, while the exam for Sociology will be conducted on September 10.