Wow NTA! They made a credit card seller the observer instead of a professor

NTA was established as an agency under the Society Registration Act 1860. It has no constitutional authority. A governing body of ten members runs it. NTA conducts examinations in both online and offline modes.

NTA under fire after paper leak.

Questions are being raised on the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA). Irregularities are being found in all the examinations conducted by NTA. Meanwhile, a shocking thing has come to light, which is related to the appointment of observers in the examination. From credit card sellers to retired army personnel and school teachers, everyone has been made observers. This matter does not end here. Some such people have also been given the responsibility of observers, who do not do any job. Many observers have also complained to the Ministry of Education regarding this, but no action has been taken yet.

Experts say that the functioning of NTA is flawed. The kind of confidentiality and caution that should be maintained in any examination is not being maintained. There are no rules to make a private college teacher an observer in board exams, B.Ed entrance exam and even university exams, because he is not accountable like a government employee.

The observer is the supreme authority of any center

A professor at Delhi University says that the observer is the master of any center. He brings the question paper from the strong room. Which room inspector will do duty in which room, is also decided by the observer. Be it an observer or an invigilator, before giving him duty, complete verification is done to ensure that his son, daughter or any relative is not giving the exam at that center.

Only teachers of government or recognized schools or colleges are eligible for invigilation. The observer is responsible for any incident at the examination center, but NTA conducts such big competitive examinations. This agency only conducts the examination, but the state of arbitrariness is worth seeing. The students who appear in the competitive examinations conducted by this agency spend lakhs of rupees to prepare, which builds the future of the students, but it is so careless towards it.

The person selling credit cards was made an observer

1. Case 1: According to information received from sources, NTA is also making people who sell credit cards in private banks as observers. According to the complaint sent to the Ministry of Education, Neha Mittal, who sells credit cards in Kotak Mahindra Bank, has NTA ID NTA-TA-050482. She has also been made an observer in many examinations.
2. Case 2: NTA also appoints teachers of private colleges as observers. These teachers can be junior or senior. Ravi Anand, the warden of a private college, whose NTA ID is NTA-TA-029964, has become an observer in many competitive examinations.
3. Case 3: According to the complaint, NTA Senior Director Examination Colonel B. Vijay Kumar's wife Ramya Vijay Kumar, whose NTA ID is NTA-TA-0-56769, has served as observer in many competitive examinations.

Looking at the irregularities happening in various competitive exams, it can be said that NTA is not following the exam standards. That is why it is under suspicion.

This is how NTA was formed

In 2017, the Finance Minister announced NTA in his budget speech. The cabinet also passed it. The government appointed General Vineet Joshi as the first director of NTA. Joshi is a 1992 batch IAS officer of Manipur cadre. On 7 July 2018, the then Education Minister Prakash Javadekar announced in a press conference that NTA would conduct JEE Main, NEET UG, NET Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) and Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT).

It was established as an agency under the Society Registration Act 1860, so it does not have any constitutional rights. A governing body of ten members runs it. It has chairperson Professor Retired Pradeep Kumar Joshi, member secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola and eight members. NTA conducts all the examinations with the help of this governing body. Apart from this, NTA does not have anything of its own. NTA outsources everything. It calls professors from universities as experts to set the paper. NTA conducts examinations in both online and offline modes.

This is how the exam is conducted

A professor, on the condition of anonymity, said that for offline exams, NTA sends its question papers to banks. Question papers are kept in all types of government and private banks including SBI, Canara Bank. A message comes from NTA in the evening a day before the exam that you will get the question papers from this bank.

After this, by 4 am, we get a call that the question paper will be available in some other bank and not in that bank. If there is an exam in two shifts at a centre and there are 1000 students in each shift, then 7 tin boxes are available from the bank. We can take them in any vehicle as per our convenience, be it in a school bus, pickup or in our car. For this, NTA also gives an honorarium of Rs 1000 to the observer.

According to the professor, it is easy to leak papers where there is a network issue or there is no space to keep the question paper box in the bank. Or anything can happen while taking the question paper box to the centre. After taking the question paper box to the centre, the observer opens the lock of the question paper box in the presence of the centre coordinator, invigilator and two candidates. The box that was found in the NEET UG exam had two locks. One was a lock with a manual key. The other was a digital lock. The digital lock opens on time. Jammers are also installed at the exam centre. Many times the jammers do not work properly.

NTA doesn't care

An observer told that people do all this process on their own responsibility, but NTA does not see anything. It does not matter to them. Sometimes it happens that the exam starts at 9 am and some candidates come at 9:15 or 9:30 and ask to be given entry. The observer does not give entry. Then they call NTA.

There are many private employees in NTA. These candidates talk to them. Then these employees from NTA call us and say that I am speaking from NTA. Give entry to these candidates, otherwise their future will be ruined. What can we do? When these people say so, we give entry.

Anyone can be made an observer

NTA outsources biometric attendance and frisking of candidates to a private company Innovative. This company sends junior employees from its own company. They know something. It is only when the observer tells them and explains them that they are able to do their work. If the observer himself is not a responsible person then what more can be said, because NTA can appoint any school teacher, LIC agent or anyone as an observer.

Outsources through tender

NTA issues tenders for the exam centre and its arrangements. Arrangements like computers, CCTV etc. are made through this. Apart from this, hiring of staff is also done through tenders. NTA had issued tenders for technical support group, office assistant, senior assistant, consultant, consult advisor, data analyst etc. in outsourced staff. NTA had also issued tenders for QR code solution. Many companies were hired for this.