(A Mission of National Importance to cater to the evaluation requirements of the country
for academic auditing to account for the huge amount of public funds spent on
education)
Preamble  operational jurisdictions of existing institutions
of assessment, accreditation, evaluation, and examination such as NAAC
of the UGC, NBA of the AICTE, NBE of the MCI, Evaluation Units of
Universities, Examination Directorates, etc.1,
are limited to only specific domains, purposes, and levels of education
but to meet the multiple demands of evaluation (that encompass
the entire system of education) being received from various organisations
of the country, no comprehensive mechanism is available
in order to fill up this gap, establishment of the National
Testing Service or National Evaluation Organisation (as visualised by
various Commissions of Education and envisaged under 5.40, 5.41 (Revised
para) of NPE / POA 1986, NPE RC 1990 and CABE,1992)2 was proposed during 2004,
by the Centre for Testing & Evaluation (CT&E)3, a 2 ½
decades old R&D Unit of the CIIL accordingly, administrative
approval of the competent authority (with the concurrence of Central
Planning Commission) has been given to the CT&E to formulate &
implement the NTS (or NEO) with effect from 1-07-2006, for the first time
in the country thus, the NTS has come into being.
Objectives to outline the commonly accepted content-inputs of
education (discipline wise) in a hierarchical order under three
specified categories (subject matter, individual growth, societal
needs) to demarcate and distribute them on a scale of
gradual progression under the seven levels of general education
(primary, upper-primary, secondary, higher secondary, graduate,
postgraduate, & research) to develop a
comprehensive, concept based continuum of graded syllabi (CCGS)
applicable to all the levels of education for every discipline to
systematise the process of teaching, learning, & evaluation
to create a variety of measurement frames (aptitude,
achievement, & proficiency) for assessing the informatory and
extrapolatory dimensions of learner growth at every level of education
(to start with, higher secondary & degree, in language
disciplines - Hindi, Tamil, & Urdu) to build up consensus
on the materials & methodologies developed and to standardise
them with reference to various regions of the country to
evolve national & regional norms to establish
benchmarks / standards for the (i) courses of study / programmes
of education (in terms of content inputs & consequential
effects), (ii) institutions / departments involved in
imparting them (in terms of infrastructure & the extent of social
concern) and (iii) individuals' academic requirements at various stages
of their educational pursuance (pre, during, & post).
Applications ensuring the earmarked minimum essentials of
learning at every level of the educational continuum
maintenance of comparability (inter and intra)4
among the (i) courses of study at any given level in a particular discipline
(for recognition) (ii) institutions imparting these courses
(for affiliation), and among (iii) individuals of the
same grade in the concerned discipline (for admission, certification,
& employment) adherence of accountability (in assuring
quality) by every one who is involved in the educational
process determination of the extent of imbalance in education
to decide the quantum of remedial measures instant
construction of tests by incorporating any amount of content areas under
any methods (techniques) for fulfilling any purpose of evaluation
(decision making) delinking of degrees from jobs thereby
ensuring education as only a means of capacity building and not
to merely increase the number of graduates institutionalising
evaluation as an inbuilt mechanism so that the ills in the end level
examinations could be phased out gradually.
Operational Strategies 3 Task Groups viz., Research & Development (with a specialised
library), Survey & Documentation (with an electronic information grid),
and Consultancy & Training (with a series of training modules &
documentary films) are being set up at the NTS headquarters to plan and
formulate all the basic frameworks required 60 Regional Field Units
[RFUs] at the first instance, are being established across 18 states5 of the
country to disseminate information, prepare tools, administer
them in the field, collect data, undertake item & test analysis, and
to evolve regional norms on standardizing the tools developed
a sub-scheme called Grant-in-Aid has been created within NTS
to extend financial support to the interested individuals / institutions for
taking up short term studies / programmes on material and manpower
development in the area of evaluation besides, monthly
Research Fellowships (45 per annum i.e. 30 doctoral and 15 post doctoral)
have also been instituted to encourage the young researchers of various
disciplines to take up advanced studies in this inter-disciplinary area
of evaluation, as a step to strengthen the future manpower requirements.
Advisory Committee a provision has been created for soliciting the views of
all those associated with the policy making process (both at the centre
and states) in order to ensure various needs of the country (which should
essentially form the content inputs of education) are adequately taken care
of so that the materials and methodologies of evaluation developed by
NTS would be meaningful, relevant, and valid apart from this,
a National Level Advisory Committee is also being constituted by the ministry
for advising academic and other important matters, with Vice-Chancellors of
Universities, Members representing Institutions that conduct Aptitude Tests
(eg. IITs), Achievement Tests (eg. CBSE), and Proficiency Tests (eg. UPSC),
Subject Experts, and Senior Officials of the MHRD.
Beneficiaries 100s of Professional Institutions including those of
national importance to have a re-look at their Admission Tests
in the context of their validity in identifying the appropriate
aptitude 100s of Universities, 1000s of Colleges, and 100000s
of Schools across the country to get their Certification Tests in the
context of their coverage in all the areas of learner growth
100s of Recruitment Agencies to review their Employment Tests in
the context of their emphasis on the relevance on performance
rather than competence 5 million Teachers of different
disciplines for acquiring academic insights 50 million Learners
to know their academic status with reference to the national and
regional norms 30 million NRIs & PIOs6 to get their
knowledge of the subject determined for availing educational facility in
India 50 million inter-state Migrants to ascertain their
eligibility status in the new location various School Boards
and UGC will have a scientific basis to recognise the institutions and to
determine the quantum of financial support to be extended.
NTS evolves National & Regional Norms and establishes Benchmarks/Standards
1
. NAAC - National Assessment and Accreditation Council; NBA - National Board of Accreditation;
NBE - National Board of Examination; AICTE - All India Council for Technical Education.
2
. NPE - National Policy on Education; POA - Programme Of Action; NPE (RC) - National Policy on Education
(Ramamoorthy Committee); CABE - Central Advisory Board on Education.
4
. Inter and intra language comparability (eg. whether Kannada MA is comparable to Kashmiri MA; whether the
competence of a Science Graduate of Mysore University is comparable to that of the Madras University;
whether the School Final Certificate issued by the NCT of Delhi is comparable to that of A.P. or U.P. State).
5
. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir,
Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,
Tamilnadu, and West Bengal.
6
. NRI-Non-Resident Indian; PIO-Person of Indian Origin.
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