NTA’s bid to find subject matter experts
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has dismissed 600 subject matter experts following investigations into question paper leaks and systemic errors in high-stakes exams like NEET-UG. The agency is now implementing a more rigorous four-stage vetting process to prevent conflicts of interest with private coaching networks.
Why it matters
This overhaul is critical for restoring public trust in India's massive competitive examination system, which dictates the academic and professional futures of millions of students.
As part of a massive overhaul, the National Testing Agency (NTA) mass sacked up to 600 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) after investigations revealed that very NTA empanelled experts who set the NEET-UG question papers were involved with leaking the questions.
Investigation by the Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI) revealed that these SMEs who had early access to question banks were supplying confidential material to coaching networks.
Students taking exams like NEET-UG and UGC-NET were discontent with repeated flaws in drafting questions and errors in translating questions across languages.
NTA’s SMEs were criticised for setting questions that had multiple correct options. In other cases, the answer keys were incorrect.
Poor translation left those who wrote their answer papers in languages other than English at a disadvantage because the questions and answer options could not be comprehended properly.
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