Centre undertaking reforms to ensure entrance exam system error-free: Dharmendra Pradhan

NEW DELHI: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said the Centre is undertaking various measures, including reforms, to ensure that the entrance examination system is error-free. Recalling that the government had faced serious challenges in the conduct of the entrance exam last year, he said it had appointed a high-powered committee under the leadership of former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan.

"They (committee) have suggested a lot of multidimensional reform, restructuring of NTA, new approach for the entrance process, looking into the mental health condition of the appearing students...," he told reporters on the sidelines of an event at the Indian School of Business (ISB) here. Broadly, the government has instructed the new National Testing Agency (NTA) leadership to look into all these areas, he said.

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State involvement in reform

Pradhan said at a meeting attended by the secretaries of state governments recently, he had appealed to all of them to be partners in the reform process. Many states have their own entrance and different examinations and there should be a collective effort to go into the expectations and aspirations of youth when they appear for any kind of exams, he said.

Noting that the Centre, last year came out with a new act to prevent cheating and malpractices in exams, he said stern action will be taken against those involved in unfair practices. "With some administrative and academic reforms and stringent laws, the Centre with all state governments is committed to ensuring that the entrance exams are error-free for the students," he said.