Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, in a reply to a starred question in Lok Sabha, on July 30, 2018, said that the Government has created National Testing Agency (NTA) as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organization to conduct entrance examinations for higher education, which were being conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The objective is to have a specialized and dedicated body for conducting these high-stake entrance examinations and at the same time, relieve CBSE of this responsibility to enable it to fulfil its core mandate. The Government has mandated NTA to conduct the examination in a scientific manner involving experts. All the examinations of NTA were mandated to be conducted twice a year for the benefit of students, he said, according to a PIB release.
Based on the request of the stakeholders, Ministries/Departments/Agencies, the UGC-NET, JEE(Main), NEET-UG, C-MAT and C-PAT examinations have been entrusted to NTA. NTA has notified the examination schedule for the year 2019 on its website https://ntaexams.co.in. NTA proposes to conduct the tests twice a year to give the students adequate opportunity to bring out their best as well as to remove the possibility of human error in evaluation, the MInister said.
The Minister also informed the House that as per rules and regulations of the NTA, the General Body, which decides policy matters comprises 17 members who are educationists of repute and nominees of the Government both from the Centre and the State. In addition, the General Body will have Testing experts, representative of Higher Educational Institutions, School Education Boards and officials of the NTA.
rRplying to a supplementary question, the Minister said that the examinations will be computer based rather than online mode. He also said that special centres will be made for students of remote areas to make them familiar with the new pattern.