National Testing Agency: Former CBSE Chairman Vineet Joshi Appointed Director General NTA

National Testing Agency was recommended to be set up early last year. Vineet Joshi, formerly Chairman of CBSE, has been appointed first Director-General of NTA which will conduct all higher education exams which were previously conducted by CBSE. The list includes NEET, JEE Main, CTET.

An IAS officer of the 1992 batch from Manipur cadre, Vineet Joshi, was the first to coin the term Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE). He was also at the helm of the board when class ten board exams were made optional. Having changed the role of CBSE in the education system, changes are on the cards for the new era of exams to be conducted by NTA.

The decision of having a separate body for conduct of entrance exams will unburden CBSE from organizing exams for over 40 lakh candidates. With appointment of former CBSE Chairman at the helm of National Testing Agency, hand over of exam organizing tasks is looked forward to be smooth.

Next year, exams including National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main), Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) will be conducted by NTA. There will be a number of changes. To start with, exams will be online. Hows and whys behind these exams will be conducted are yet to be announced. As CTET for this year is also yet to be announced, candidates have started enquiring whether next CTET will be held by CBSE or NTA.

Vineet Joshi has been appointed as the Director General of National Testing Agency for five years, as per the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

In a related news, CBSE education secretary has addressed the media accompanied by CBSE chairman. This briefing was in context of the unfortunate leak of papers that has put a lot of students in the country to inconvenience. The authorities have been having intensive deliberations on a number of aspects. There are no perfect solutions to the problems that we face, the secrteray said. But after deliberating hard the authorities have come to certain conclusions.

The date of re-examination was announced. Firstly, in the context of class 12 examintion, where one paper was apparently leaked. And given the fact that class 12 examinatioon are very very important examination in the context of the future of the child. In the context of admission that are done in Delhi University. The date for examination has been fixed as 25th of April. As far as class 10 examinations are concerned, the preliminary enquiries have revealed that the leak was restricted to Delhi and Haryana. And further details are being found out. Hence a decision has been taken that if at all re exam has to happen, it will happen only in the states of Delhi and Haryana. A decision to this effect will be taken in the next 15 days when more details become available. And if at all a re exam has to be held after the investigations it shall be held in the month of July so that children, their old schedule is not upset.

Coming back to NTA, the biggest questions in the minds of candidates who will appear for JEE, NEET, CTET are precise changes to exam. Will exam pattern also change? Will syllabus also change? The notice issued publicly in February last year also stated that exams will be held twice a year; if that happens, then how will ranking be done?

A lot of questions. Answers awaited on each and every one. What do you think the answers will be?