Current Affairs - Persons - Discussion

Central Government appointed former chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Vineet Joshi as the Director General (D-G) of the National Testing Agency (NTA), which will conduct various entrance examinations across India. Currently, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducts Joint Engineering Entrance (JEE) Exam, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), Central Teacher Eligibility Test (twice a year) UGC's National Eligibility Test (twice a year) and the entrance test for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas. These exams/tests are in addition to CBSE's own board exams. With the creation of National Testing Agency (NTA), CBSE and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will be relieved from conducting the above stated exams/tests. Setting up of NTA was announced by Finance Ministry Arun Jaitley while presenting Union Budget 2017-18. Subsequently, on November 10, 2017, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared a proposal for creation of NTA. Structrue of NTA: An eminent educationist appointed by Union Human Resources Development Ministry will be the Chairperson of NTA. The CEO of NTA will be the Director General, and will be appointed by the government. Director General will be assisted by nine verticals headed by academicians and experts. NTA will also have a Board of Governors comprising members from user institutions.