Chennai: An education rights body in Tamil Nadu has urged the Centre’s High-Powered Task Force (HPTF) to dissolve the NTA and abolish all centralised tests for undergraduate admissions, the organisation said on Tuesday.
In a memorandum titled “Suggestions to the HPTF on Examinations”, the State Platform for Common School System – Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN) raised strong objections to the current examination framework.
SPCSS-TN general secretary P B Prince Gajendra Babu said the National Testing Agency (NTA) has been unable to conduct a single test without receiving complaints.
SPCSS-TN General Secretary P.B. Prince Gajendra Babu said evaluation of school students should remain with the respective State and Central Boards, which are responsible for the curriculum and assessment. The organisation argued that national-level eligibility tests could disadvantage students from backward communities and undermine the federal structure.
It also criticised the National Testing Agency (NTA), saying it is not an academic body competent to evaluate school students and that centralised testing could commercialise the admission process. SPCSS-TN recommended that Tamil Nadu’s normalisation method, currently used for professional course admissions, be adopted for ranking students from different boards, including for All-India quota seats. It also called for the NTA to be dissolved and centralised admission tests to be abolished.
