NTA removes 600 experts, brings four-tier checks for question papers

NEW DELHI: National Testing Agency (NTA) has removed 600 experts from its panels and begun onboarding new specialists, while deciding to subject every paper to four levels of scrutiny before an examination.NTA director general apprised education minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday of the measures at a follow-up review meeting. The agency informed the ministry that it will also induct 20-25 officials over the next two to three weeks and shift its offices to new premises on a “war footing”, with Central Industrial Security Force teams deployed to reinforce security.Joshi, it is learnt, has directed that all necessary security and infrastructural arrangements be completed to ensure the smooth conduct of examinations. The agency’s wider recruitment plan was also reviewed at the meeting.The four-tier checking mechanism is intended to strengthen scrutiny at different stages of question-paper preparation and detect factual, language, translation and formatting errors before papers are finalised.