"WE WILL MAKE EXAMS 100 PER CENT FOOLPROOF"

Soon after he resumed charge of the Union ministry of education, DHARMENDRA PRADHAN had to deal with the storm that broke out over serious irregularities and subversions of the national entrance examination system with the Opposition even demanding his resignation. In an exclusive interview with India Today Group Editorial Director RAJ CHENGAPPA and Deputy Editor ANILESH S. MAHAJAN on June 25, Pradhan speaks forthrightly about the action the central government has taken to deal with the crisis and the challenges that lie ahead. Excerpts:

- RAJ CHENGAPPA, ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

Q. There has much angst and controversy over the National Testing Agency and the way it has conducted entrance exams, particularly the recent NEET-UG (National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test for Undergraduates) to medical colleges. What are the reasons behind it?

The NTA, for the past six years, has been successfully conducting some of the country’s most prestigious tests, like the JEE-MAIN for engineering and the CUET for central universities. Any organisation should regularly reshape and reinvent itself, make itself modern. So, the NTA needs to reincarnate itself. Because technology is changing, challenges are mounting and participation is increasing. This time, for the examination we are talking about, 24 lakh students registered and 23.33 lakh appeared for the test. When so many collegiates appear for a test, challenges are bound to increase. Last year, the NTA successfully conducted entrance examinations for higher education and jobs for over one crore students. This was an incident that should not have taken place; greater precaution should have been taken.

Q. Serious allegations have been made. Tests like the UGC-NET (University Grants Commission- National Entrance Test) have been cancelled. Other tests have been deferred.

Look, only one test has been cancelled, the other has been deferred. This was because I felt that when complications arose, we should take the time to address them. UGC-NET was cancelled because you got the leaked question paper a day before the dark net and it spread on Telegram—never before has it happened. With time, technological and cyber criminal challenges have risen. There had been a compromise. CSIR-NET (Council for Scientific and Industrial Relations-National Eligibility Test) has been deferred, and will be held soon.

Q. Why was the CSIR-NET deferred?