NEET UG Exam: A parliamentary panel on Friday suggested that the National Testing Agency (NTA) should consider a two-stage examination process for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) Undergraduate (UG) and other large examinations. According to a report by the Press Trust of India (PTI), the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, noted that the trust in the examinations conducted by the NTA was a matter of social justice and national integrity.
In a detailed report the committee said: “The education department may introduce appropriate parliamentary framework that ensures NTA’s accountability to Parliament.”
The parliamentary panel noted that, contrary to the Civil Services Examination that follows a multi-stage format for filtration of candidates, the NEET UG examination remains a single-stage test that covers MBBS, BDS, nursing, and AYUSH admissions together handling more than 22 lakh students.
“The Committee is of the view that NTA should examine the feasibility of a two-stage format for its large examinations, such as having a common prelims examination for all medical streams while conducting specialised mains stage for specific courses, so that a candidate seeking nursing or AYUSH is tested and ranked apart from one seeking admission to MBBS, reducing avoidable competition,” the panel suggested.
According to the report, the committee further recommended a broad base of question banks and suggested that students who arrive later at exam centres be allowed to sit for the test after recording an undertaking.
“The Committee notes that investment in question banks is the most viable defense against paper leaks in the long-run. The repeated use of the same question sets or the practice of having examiners set new question papers every year can be a risk to the integrity of the examination process,” the parliamentary body noted.
“The Committee, therefore, is of the view that NTA should invest in building a large, diverse, and continuously updated question bank which can be drawn on to set papers without the advance knowledge of the question-setters,” the panel added.
It further recommended that the NTA must rely on experts from the most renowned educational institutions, including IITs, AIIMSs, IIMs, to develop its question banks and for translation.
