600 NTA subject experts removed: Big overhaul after govt's 'fix accountability' order

The Union education ministry on Tuesday said the National Testing Agency (NTA) has removed 600 subject experts, is rolling out a four-tier question-paper checking system and will shift its headquarters from Okhla in south Delhi to central Delhi, as the testing body embarks on a sweeping overhaul following a series of paper leaks and question-paper errors that hit high-stakes examinations over the past two years and affected millions of students.

The measures were disclosed a day after the ministry directed NTA to “fix accountability”, conduct a thorough audit of its examination processes and submit a report on corrective action within 30 days.

Union education minister Pralhad Joshi held meetings with NTA director general Abhishek Singh and senior ministry officials on Monday and Tuesday, after NTA announced on Sunday that it would re-conduct three UGC-NET subjects — which was the latest in a series of problems.

In a post on X on Tuesday, the ministry said Joshi had directed that all necessary security and infrastructure facilities be put in place for the smooth conduct of examinations, and that NTA officials had briefed him on steps taken to strengthen the system.

“A revamp of the examination team was undertaken with 600 experts being removed and new experts being onboarded,” the ministry said. NTA itself has not publicly detailed the changes.

Also read | UGC-NET Row: NTA removes over 50 staff, fills 10 new leadership roles

Queries sent to NTA and the education ministry did not elicit a response.

The scale of the removal is difficult to benchmark. NTA has not publicly disclosed the current size of its subject-expert pool. In a communication to the ministry in March 2021, the agency said around 7,000 subject experts had been oriented on test-development practices through workshops, but did not state that all of them constituted its active expert panel.

The ministry said the four-tier system would “strengthen scrutiny of examination papers”.

NTA’s existing process involves questions being developed by subject experts and psychometricians, reviewed and moderated multiple times, and checked for accuracy, clarity, bias and language.

Also read | Rahul Gandhi demands accountability as NTA announces re-conduct of UGC-NET

After assembly, specialists, committee members and sometimes outside experts independently solve the paper, with their answers compared against the key. Post-examination, statisticians and test developers conduct question-wise checks to identify defective questions before final marking.

Another 20 to 25 officials will be inducted over the next two to three weeks, the ministry said.

NTA’s offices will move on “a war footing” from the NSIC-MDBP Building in Okhla Industrial Estate to the Government of India Press building on Minto Road, a person familiar with the development said.