NEW DELHI: Education ministry told a parliamentary committee on Monday that “many hands and many cities” present many chances to leak question papers in pen-and-paper exams, while Computer-Based Test (CBT) takes out this “weakest link” and will serve as the foundation for computer-adaptive testing (CAT) along the lines of CRE and GMAT. In a presentation before the parliamentary panel on education headed by Digvijaya Singh of Congress, it was said that NTA has demonstrated that CBT can be administered on scale by successfully conducting JEE exams in multiple sessions since 2019, people in the know said.Hopeful of a fair retest as Modi himself is monitoring issue, says DigvijayaRemarks of Digvijaya Singh of Congress calling upon NTA to ensure a mishap-free re-test of NEET on June 21 while speaking of trust in PM Modi and the system triggered a row as Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who is not a panel member, asserted that his senior colleague had not given any clean chit to Modi. A member of the panel said Singh made the reference in his concluding remarks on the overall discussion.Singh told TOI that he is rule-bound not to disclose details of the parliamentary panel meeting. The committee will do its best to present its report before June 21, when his term in Rajya Sabha ends, he added.“As Modi himself is monitoring the issue, we are hopeful that the re-exam will be conducted fairly. If there is a leak again, it is his (PM’s) responsibility,” he said.The ministry said its proposals are in line with recommendations of the Radhakrishnan committee report. Computer-based test (CBT) can be scaled up to computer adaptive testing (CAT), where the difficulty level of questions adjusts according to a candidate’s performance.After it was forced to cancel NEET (UG) due to leak of questions, NTA has announced a re-examination on June 21. NTA officials and education and health ministries have appeared before the panel amid furore over the irregularities.
