EXCLUSIVE
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Chief Adviser to the Meghalaya Government and former Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui has urged Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to review the functioning of various autonomous bodies under the Ministry of Education including NTA, UGC , NCERT, etc.
Amid the row over discrepancies in the conduct of the NEET examinations, the former Meghalaya Education Minister further said the Union Education Minister should call the central advisory Board of Education meeting where all the education ministers of different states are also the member of it and to deliberate what is the way forward.
“NTA is a good concept but now, immediately, the Union Education Minister should call the central advisory Board of Education meeting where all the state education ministers, who are also the members, deliberate various challenges and ways forward,” Rymbui told Meghalaya News 24.
He said if this is done then in future this type of things should not happen and the student community will not suffer.
Stating that if the students suffer the country will suffer, the former Education Minister said, “I urge our union Education Minister, he is a very experienced man and I have seen in his statement has taken note of all this development, immediately, he should call the meeting of this thing and not only this, he should review the function of NTA, the function of UGC, the function of NCERT, the function of all these autonomous bodies under the education ministry So that this type of things should not repeat.”
Talking to Meghalaya News 24, Rymbui said the concept of the National Testing Agency conducting all the tests is good, but everything has to be full proof without creating confusion.
“The Ministry of Education should come out with a clear deadline when these examinations will be held, the first and the most important point for the ministry of Education is to address the student community directly which exam will be conducted on which date,” he said.
The NTA in consultation with the Education Ministry should set up calendar for the cancelled and postponed program, he suggested.
“There are so many paper leaks everywhere and we cannot turn back, we have to move forward. Let the police, let the CBI, let the Economic Wings of Bihar police or other state do their job, The education Ministry and the NTA should focus on conducting this foolproof exam for this postpone and cancel exam immediately,” the former Education Minister said.
“The first and foremost is the calendar because over night 10 or 12 hours before the commencement of examination you postpone it, give the date when you will conduct these examinations,” he added.
The central Government has formed an expert panel to look into aspects of reforms of the National Testing Agency (NTA), amid the row over discrepancies in the conduct of the NEET examinations, has sought suggestions from students, parents and other stakeholders. The public can submit their proposals through a dedicated window available on the MyGov website until July 7.