Calling for a structural overhaul of the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports has called for a series of institutional and procedural reforms to strengthen examination security and rebuild public trust in the agency.The Committee has recommended a continuously updated question bank to minimise the risk of paper leaks, permanent recruitment of specialised staff, and a mechanism to allow candidates who arrive late at examination centres for genuine reasons to take the test without any extra time.In its 382nd report — “Reforms and Strengthening of the National Testing Agency” — presented to Rajya Sabha Chairman on October 9, the Mukul Wasnik-led committee said that investment in question banks is the most viable defence against paper leaks in the long run.Also Read | Centre eyeing tougher rules for paper leaks: What India’s existing law to tackle exam fraud says“NTA should invest in building a large, diverse, and continuously updated question bank which can be drawn on to set papers without the advance knowledge of the question-setters… in the CBT format, question papers no longer have to be printed and transported to examination centres. Therefore, there is no compulsion to set question papers long in advance,” the report said.Accordingly, the final question papers should be set very close to the examination, with questions drawn from the question bank vetted by experts using digital tools.It also emphasised a “strict quarantine and sequestering of the final paper-vetters until the conclusion of the examination”.The Committee also recommended that the NTA must rely on bona fide experts from top institutions like IITs and AIIMS to develop its question banks and for translation.Story continues below this adAlso read | PM’s move amid NEET rage: Fast-track courts for ‘swift, stringent punishment’It said that the agency “must also develop a system to check the track record of said experts to establish their integrity and to rule out any conflict of interest… before recruiting them”.The Committee said that it broadly concurs with the phased transition to computer-based testing (CBT) and recommended that NEET-UG also move to this mode. However, it stressed that the transition must be preceded by investment in secure government-owned CBT infrastructure, particularly in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and rural areas.It said that adequate government-owned infrastructure must be in place so that reliance on private centres is avoided. It also said that 1,000 secure government CBT centres must be set up with a clear and phased timeline to facilitate the examinations.It also suggested that the NTA should itself financially support the establishment of mid-sized IT labs with 100-200 nodes in schools and colleges across the country and there must be at least 1 test centre in each district to offer all exams to minimise the stress and financial burden of transport and accommodation on students.Story continues below this adAlso in Explained | PM Modi’s push for fast-track courts amid paper leak protests: How they work, where they lag“The private institutions engaged as examination centres on a sub-contracted basis have often proved to be a weak link in examination security. Therefore, all centers must be owned and operated by the Union and/or State Government…,” it said.The committee recommended that NTA should create and maintain a “national registry of blacklisted examination vendors”.Further, it said that before rolling out the CBT mode, the NTA should consider a hybrid model where the encrypted questions may be delivered to the exam centre directly and then printed there itself, which the Committee has been informed is feasible, until full CBT readiness is achieved.Also read | How Modi faces his first broad-based protest ever — not one by specific interest groupsThe committee also proposed a mechanism to allow entry to students who arrive a few minutes late at the exam centre after taking an undertaking recording their late arrival and allow them to take the exam for the remainder period with no extra time.Story continues below this adThe panel also flagged the manpower shortage and urged the agency to expedite recruitment and develop its own permanent cadre.