Before the NEET-UG exam was cancelled due to paper leak, a parliamentary standing committee had backed the pen and paper mode of the entrance exams, claims a report by news agency PTI. The committe had citing the ‘leak-proof’ track record of exams such as those conducted by the UPSC and CBSE in their recommendation.
The committee had advised the National Testing Agency (NTA) to "closely study these models and implement the same".
However, the recommentations from parliamentary panel is in complete contrast with the suggestions mae by ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan-led high-level committee which had recommended shifting from pen and paper model to computer based testing.
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But the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, chaired by Digvijaya Singh, supported greater reliance on pen-and-paper examinations while acknowledging the trade-offs involved in both systems.
"The Committee was informed that, with regard to securing the examination process, the tradeoffs are as follows. Pen and paper exams offer more opportunities for paper leaks, while computer-based tests (CBT) can be hacked in a manner that is difficult to detect," the report stated.
{{/usCountry}}"The Committee was informed that, with regard to securing the examination process, the tradeoffs are as follows. Pen and paper exams offer more opportunities for paper leaks, while computer-based tests (CBT) can be hacked in a manner that is difficult to detect," the report stated.
{{/usCountry}}"Between the two, the Committee supported a greater focus on pen-and-paper examinations given that there are several models of such examinations which have been leak-proof for several years -- including the CBSE exams and the UPSC exams," it added
The panel further recommended the creation of a nationwide blacklist of firms involved in paper-setting, administration and correction that have been barred by any state government or organisation, arguing that such entities should not be allowed to secure contracts elsewhere.
It also noted that the NTA generated a surplus corpus of around ₹448 crore over the last six years and recommended that the amount be used to strengthen the agency's own examination and monitoring capabilities.
(With inputs from PTI)