Why NTA gives 'so little' info about itself on website, asks TMC MP; writes to education minister

New Delhi: TMC Rajya Sabha member Sagarika Ghose has written to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, asking why the website of the National Testing Agency, responsible for conducting competitive exams, does not have sufficient information about the organisation.

Tagging the letter in a post on X, she asked, "Who are all the board members? Who are the officials? Where are NTA's annual reports?" "To win public trust for future exams, NTA must provide more information about itself on its website," the MP from West Bengal suggested the agency that was recently criticised over the conduct of exams such as medical entrance test NEET-UG and the UGC-NET.

"I have written to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on: why does the website of the National Testing Agency (NTA which conducts 17 major examinations including the NEET) give so little information about itself?" Ghose said in her post on Saturday, tagging Pradhan.

I have written to @EduMinOfIndia @dpradhanbjp on: why does the website of the National Testing Agency ( NTA which conducts 17 major examinations including the #NEET ) give so little information about itself? Who are all the board members ? Who are the officials ? Where are NTA’s… pic.twitter.com/JBiwIEndXm

— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) August 3, 2024

The MP said she wrote to the minister as a question she had asked in the Rajya Sabha was not selected in the ballot and remained unanswered.

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh, whose party and the TMC are constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc, shared Ghose's post. "The only job of NTA appears to be to outsource. Its chairman has a very dubious record as chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission," he said on X.

The only job of NTA appears to be to outsource. Its Chairman has a very dubious record as Chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission. https://t.co/DhBa5KDSos

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 3, 2024

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader said she is wrote to Pradhan with her questions to seek what "I believe is an important answer in the public interest".

In her letter, Ghose said the NTA was established in 2017, and in five years it has been entrusted with the responsibility of conducting 17 different examinations.

"To win public trust and uphold the cause of transparency, any public organisation that conducts major examinations should disclose more details about itself. The website of the NTA provides little information about the organisation," she said.

"All offices of the NTA share only two landline numbers. The names of only the chairperson, director general and one more member are available," Ghose said.

She asked if the government is considering updating the website of the NTA. "... so that the names of other board members and officers of the NTA, who they are, as well as annual reports of the NTA can be available to the public," she said.

"Examinations must be, above all, totally trustworthy and the agency that conducts them must be above all suspicion. Students should not have to approach the courts for redress and every examination conducted by the NTA should not be plagued by doubt and uncertainty," she said.

"I therefore request you to urgently update the website of the NTA, with all the names of its board members and officials listed and their qualifications," she said.

Ghose said the annual reports and audited accounts of the NTA should also be uploaded on the website.

"Such steps would go a long way in establishing the trustworthiness of the NTA in the eyes of the public. I hope to receive your kind attention on this matter," she said.

The NTA is headed by Prof. Pradeep Kumar Joshi, a former chairman of the UPSC. Its director general, Subodh Singh, was shunted out in June amid the controversy around the 2024 NEET-UG exam held on May 5.