THE NANDAN Nilekani-led High Powered Task Force (HPTF) on examination reforms has held about 18 meetings at the panel level along with 40 consultative meetings since its constitution on July 26, a day after the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.Officials said that the panel has received over 50,000 suggestions. In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court earlier this week on progress made by the task force, the government has said that “suggestions received from the United Doctors Front (UDF) were duly considered by the HPTF in the course of its deliberations”.The UDF suggestions include having 75% of NTA’s technical and security posts as permanent statutory cadre and reconstitution of NTA by an Act of Parliament as a Statutory National Examination Authority with independent divisions for cybersecurity, psychometrics, digital forensics and vigilance, among others.Besides UDF, sources confirmed that the committee has received suggestions from various sectors, including students, parents, student bodies, doctors’ associations and examination conducting bodies like National Recruitment Agency (NRA), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), and is considering their proposals, including debundling of examination.“They have pointed out that at present the examination is mainly conducted by a single service provider. They have also said that if it is changed, various procedures such as question paper setting, security, test centres etc will be handled by different agencies and that will bring in transparency,” said an official.The official said currently vendors have exam centres on lease. “Now, as the government is planning to shift from the pen and paper mode to Computer-Based Test (CBT) for NEET from next year, there is a need to strengthen the infrastructure also… so that the government has dedicated centres with proper security, IT infrastructure and facilities from city to regional and rural level. We have received a large number of suggestions, which are being reviewed…,” said the official.The constitution of the high-powered six-member committee was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a day after Pradhan’s resignation following massive student protests at Jantar Mantar on July 25.Story continues below this adOn September 18, the Supreme Court directed the Joint Secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training, coordinating with the Task Force, to place on record within two weeks an affidavit indicating the progress made by the committee.In the affidavit, Joint Secretary, DoPT, Polamuri Bala Kiran said: “It is submitted that …since its constitution, the Task Force has held about 18 meetings to deliberate on various provisions and aspects of examination reforms.”In addition, HPTF members have conducted more than “40 consultative meetings” with various ministries, departments, including the Department of Higher Education, Department of School Education & Literacy and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; examination and recruitment organisations, technology providers, vendors and eminent experts and other stakeholders having relevant domain expertise.The committee also held extensive consultation with the Chief Secretaries and DGPs of States and UTs in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs. Further, the boards and panels related to medical education and other education systems, including the National Medical Commission (NMC), National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), University Grants Commission (UGC), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), were also consulted, the affidavit said.Story continues below this ad“The Task Force has also developed and operationalised the public feedback platform ‘Listen at Scale’, through which numerous suggestions have been received. These public inputs, together with institutional and expert consultations, are being collated and considered as part of the ongoing exercise,” the affidavit states.Last month, the NTA also asked the AICTE to look for spaces across government technical institutions to set up standard testing centres.“It is further submitted that the Task Force is proceeding with its assigned mandate in accordance with the prescribed timeframe and is on track to complete its deliberations and submit its final report and recommendations to the government within the stipulated period,” the affidavit said.“The report will be submitted by the end of this month,” said a senior official.Story continues below this adIn its last affidavit, the Education Ministry said, “NTA is transitioning from exam-specific units to functional vertical structure to build specialised, domain-specific capabilities across core operational areas.”UDF suggestionsSome of the key suggestions made by the UDF are a permanent statutory cadre with 75% of NTA’s technical and security posts filled within three years, outsourced personnel capped at 25% of total strength, centralised, searchable record of every irregularity, reconstitution of NTA by an Act of Parliament as a Statutory National Examination Authority, with independent divisions for cybersecurity, psychometrics, digital forensics and vigilance, along the lines the High Level Committee of Experts recommended.It also suggested for introduction of a Bill within the next two sittings of Parliament, with interim Rules notified within 90 days pending enactment, a National Registry of Certified Centres, so that only a centre carrying a current registry entry may be used for a national examination, inspection of centres once a year, physical audit 15 days before exams. A centre that fails the inspection should be barred from national examinations for a minimum of three cycles, the Front recommended.It also suggested division of question setting among multiple panels, a question bank maintained at eight to 10 times the size actually needed for a cycle, invisible traceable markers on every finalised question, deployment of AI for detection of paper leaks and digital locking of question papers, among others.