Exam reforms: No contractual staff in exam depts

The state govt has directed all public universities to refrain from appointing contractual staff in sensitive examination departments as one of the prime measures to prevent paper leaks and other malpractices The higher and technical education department has also asked universities to fix responsibilities for examination-related work on designated staff, to increase accountability and action in the event of irregularities. The govt has further decided to adopt the recommendations of the Nandan Nilekani-led central task force on examination reforms as soon as its report is released and implement them across all state-level competitive examinations, mainly the computer-based ones.Among other measures, the use of blockchain technology for the security of academically important certificates of students in the state to prevent forgery was also recommended. Directions have been given to formulate a policy for the same. The directives were issued in a meeting of higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil with the vice-chancellors of public universities last week. All universities should issue a notification fixing responsibilities regarding examinations on university officers or permanent employees, directed the minister in the meeting. “The directive to not appoint contractual staff in examination departments also applies to affiliated colleges,” said an official from the department, citing the Mumbai University final-year BCom paper leak early this year