DIGI-EXAM system, policy to allot centres, transition to CBT: Centre’s panel lists exam reforms

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DIGI-EXAM system

to check impersonation, multi-stage and multi-session testing, test centre allocation policy, setting up secured test centres in each district and mobile testing centres in rural and remote areas are among the recommendations made by the Centre’s high-level panel on exam reforms. The report by the seven-member panel headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief R Radhakrishnan was made public on Tuesday.
The panel noted that there was a strong case for transition from pen-and-paper based tests to Computer Based Test (CBT) as the preferred methodology while the challenges in reaching out to underserved areas could be network, test infrastructure and competent human resources.
The panel recommended the introduction of a DIGI-EXAM system on the lines of DIGI-YATRA to ensure that only the candidate writing the exam joined the intended programme.
“Essentially, multi-stage authentication of the candidate’s identity is envisaged which makes use of Aadhar and biometrics and AI-based data analytics,” it said.

The panel noted that the National Testing Agency (NTA) outstretched itself to accommodate diverse requests from many test indenting agencies for handling end-to-end operations of tests.
“The NTA should primarily conduct entrance examinations. Enhancing its scope for other examinations may be considered after the capacity of the NTA is augmented,” the panel said in its report.
Suggesting restructuring of the NTA, the committee recommended 10 specific verticals, headed at the director level. The verticals will be related to technology, products and operations, test security and surveillance.

“The NTA needs to be manned with internal domain-specific human resources and a leadership team with domain expertise, proven experience and skill sets who should take charge of the testing process in the future,” it said.
The committee also noted that the NTA should have an “empowered and accountable” governing body with three designated sub-committees to oversee test audit, ethics and transparency; nomination and staff conditions; and stakeholder relationships.
“Multi-session testing, spread over typically a few days to a couple of weeks could be adopted, especially when registered participants exceed say, two lakh. The parameters and methodology of normalisation process that is integral to multi-session testing should be well defined, established, documented and communicated transparently for each test,” according to the report.
“Multi-stage testing for NEET-UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate) could be a viable possibility that needs to be followed up. An acceptable framework with thresholds and test objectives of scoring and ranking at each stage, and number of attempts may be evolved,” the panel said.
It recommended that the NTA could target developing at least 1,000 secure standard testing centres in a phased manner in reputable government institutions.
This process may require a “war-footing” approach, it noted.
“The committee envisions a testing centre allocation policy to ensure that ideally the candidates should get a choice of testing centre in their district of residence,” it said.
Trusted question bank, secured and trusted testing platform that facilitates secure storage of question paper, setting up one secure Standard Testing Centre (STC) in each district and Mobile Testing Centres (MTCs) to facilitate aspirational districts from rural, remote and inaccessible areas are among the recommendations made in the report.
“Typically, a large bus with seating capacity of 40-50 persons could accommodate 30 test takers and multiples of it could be deployed as necessary. MTCs should be equipped with secure servers that are connected to the command centre,” it said.
Laying down a roadmap for testing centres, the panel suggested that it was possible to integrate such testing centres from Kendriya Vidyalyas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, reputable universities and institutes to establish a nationwide network of about 400-500 testing centres within a time frame of a year or so, which would provide about 2-2.5 lakh testing capacity for conducting CBT in one session nationwide.
The panel has also made some long-term recommendations, including harmonisation and unification of tests for undergraduate (UG) admissions, migration to Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT), transition to online mode for exam and coping with Information Security Advancements, among others.
“It would be greatly desired to keep the admission at the UG level simple and uniform. The examination and admission coordinating institutes and institutions admitting candidates should discuss and evolve simpler and uniform eligibility and admission criteria (for instance in terms of the number of stages for the test, number of attempts, age limit, cut-off for higher secondary marks, multi-session tests, number of times test is conducted in a year, test syllabus, and mode of testing),” according to the panel report.
“The intended harmonisation may not be easy to achieve in one-step reform. Still, it is possible to align the same at the right time as education truly becomes multidisciplinary in the country,” it added.
In the line of fire over alleged irregularities in NEET-UG and PhD entrance NET, the Centre in July set up the panel to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations by the NTA.