NTA overhaul: Over 5,000 experts empanelled for setting, vetting, translating question papers

ABOUT 5,000 academicians, scientists, researchers, professionals, educators, translators and moderators have been empanelled with the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) panel of subject matter experts for question paper setting, translation, vetting, moderation, answer key verification, curriculum mapping, research, psychometric validation and other confidential assignments, said sources.

As part of its ongoing overhaul, the NTA has invited Expressions of Interest (EOI) from academicians, scientists, educators and others to join its three-year panel of subject matter experts and translators.

“More than 5,000 experts, including subject matter experts, moderators and translators, have been added to NTA’s panel… We are not hiring them; they are being empanelled following multi-layered scrutiny and verification. The NTA is building its own large question bank for conducting examinations — a common pool of questions to prevent paper leaks. Therefore, the NTA has not set any deadline for empanelling translators and subject matter experts. The EOI remains open, and experts are being added to the panel throughout the year,” sources said.

NTA had invited EOI to empanel subject matter experts and translators to review AI translated materials last month.

The plan is to ensure that subject matter experts and translators set question papers, vet them and verify them without having the knowledge of which question will be asked and even which examination the questions are meant for. The question bank will be so large that there will be no scope for question paper setters or translators to memorise and reproduce the questions, the sources said.

Explaining the process, officials said subject matter experts are empanelled after a strict four-layer verification process. “In the first stage, the applicant’s details, eligibility, educational qualifications, experience, etc are checked and verified. Following the documentary verification, the NTA has constituted a subject matter committee which reviews and evaluates an applicant’s academic standing, research record, experience in setting question papers, etc,” an official said.

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Only those who clear these stages are shortlisted, officials said, adding that the agency also conducts background checks to ensure that the applicants are not associated with any coaching institute or have prepared question bank material for students.

“The agency has also specified restrictions on how the confidential work is to be carried out. Empanelled experts are required to sign a comprehensive Non-Disclosure Agreement at the time of empanelment and reaffirm it at the start of every assignment,” the official said.

A senior government official said the NTA had already started working on the question bank so that questions could be selected and a question paper could be finalised a few minutes before an examination to prevent paper leaks.

“The NTA has already started implementing this for some of the entrance examinations it conducts…,” the official said.

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The NTA conducts some of the major entrance examinations, including JEE (Main), CUET (UG and PG), UGC-NET, CSIR-NET and NEET. Except for NEET, all the other examinations are conducted in the Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode.

The sources also said that the NTA is working on an “exam-agnostic” approach to ensure that the entire examination-conducting process is not dependent on any particular vendor, technology or platform.