Learnings from CBSE by NTA | connecting-the-dots

! government has also set up a committee led by Dr K Radhakrishnan, former Chairman, ISRO to suggest ways to prevent such irregularities in the future

most of the entrance examinations currently conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) were earlier conducted by the CBSE, which did a decent job. The decision to set up a separate agency was taken in 2017.

NTA

founded on the model of the United States’ External Testing Service to overcome nefarious practices, intents and designs.

Lacking in NTA

CBSE has permanent employees, NTA runs mainly with the help of consultants.
CBSE-affiliated schools, therefore, have total control over their exam centres. In contrast, the NTA has no control over its exam centers.
CBSE has a very systematic set of examination bye-laws, which have been upheld by the courts. This system is not there in NTA. There are hardly any SoPs
CBSE has more than 16 full-fledged regional offices in the country manned by permanent employees of CBSE. These regional offices monitor every aspect of exams, from transportation to selection of exam centres, custodians, invigilators, evaluation, etc. The NTA has no regional offices.
system of secrecy and Controller of Examinations does not exist in the NTA.
The NTA does not have in-house tech capability like the CBSE. For every aspect of its functioning, it has a vendor.

unfortunate paper leak in 2018 by CBSE

Learnings from CBSE way of conducting exams:

examination fees were raised to accommodate improved logistics, safety and security of the exam process.
Every mistake could lead to the disaffiliation of a school in case it was a private school, or severe and fast action if the person concerned was a govt servant.
The dos and don’ts were made very clear.
pattern of exams made unpredictable
The Chief Secretary and DGP of every state, The DMs and SPs of every district were informed in advance about the exam centres in their jurisdiction, addressed concerns before every examination.
The whole process of transportation was Real-time information was maintained.
Mandatory criteria for the selection of storage facilities were laid down. Basic facilities, such as CCTV cameras, senior and experienced managers, approachability, strong room facilities, etc. became the criteria for the selection of storage facilities.
it was decided to first exhaust examination centres in central govt institutions – Kendriya Vidyalayas and JNVs – and then proceed to give to private schools after a thorough background check and history of holding exams.
Secrecy agreement signed by Chairperson and Controller of Exams for life.
? an ex-chairperson had happily given away all the safety and secrecy aspects of question papers (QPs) on live television.
strong system of secrecy was maintained with a carefully selected Controller of Examinations and a Secrecy Officer.

Use of technology

On examination day, time/date-tagged and location-tagged photographs of the storage place are received.
Even if one QP package was found even slightly damaged, the observer and centre superintendent had to report and the online delivery of the new QP would kick in.
Except for a few of those subjects where the number of examinees was very large, almost all the other QPs were delivered online in real time through an encryption-decryption process. These QPs were printed on the spot in the school with the help of fast-speed printers and under the observer’s supervision.
Same-day action was taken against teachers/principals who were found to have opened the QP packages even five minutes earlier than the stipulated time. All this could be monitored on account of real-time information made available for each and every centre with the use of technology. Print