NTA Reforms: Education Ministry sought three more weeks for the report, told SC - more than 37000 suggestions have been received so far

The Union Education Ministry has sought three more weeks time to present the final report of the NTA Reform Committee in the Supreme Court. Ministry of Education has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. It has demanded time till 21 October instead of 30 September. The Education Ministry said that the committee related to reforms in NTA has held 22 meetings so far. The Committee has forwarded the first draft report to the Ministry of Education on 18th September.

The committee has stated that more consideration is needed for transparency and zero error in the examination. The Supreme Court, in such a situation, should provide three weeks in order to prepare the final report.

Besides this, in its affidavit, the Ministry of Education informed the Supreme Court that suggestions have been received on the MyGov portal from about 37,144 students, parents, teachers, and experts. Simultaneously, various agencies conducting the examination, state governments, police officers, academicians, technical experts, global testing experts, and other regulatory bodies are also being consulted. During the hearing of the case of NEET UG scam, the Supreme Court, through its decision on August 2 directed the Central Government to appoint a high power committee in order to reform the NTA in improving the examination processes, and submit the report by September 30. Apart from this, the Supreme Court also ordered the Ministry of Education to take a decision on recommendations of the committee within a month of receiving the report. It was also said that the ministry will have to prepare an action plan based on its decision and submit the report within two weeks of deciding on implementing the recommendations.