Lately, in India, allegations of irregularities have emerged in two essential authorities exams performed on-line by the Nationwide Testing Company (NTA), which has led to a political storm and has put the academic prospects of tens of millions of scholars in jeopardy. In mild of those developments, India is at present exploring the potential of Blockchain know-how and Synthetic Intelligence to make sure that exams are performed in a good method.
Two authorities exams- the Nationwide Eligibility cum Entrance Take a look at (NEET) for medical aspirants and the UGC-NET (NET), the qualifying examination to show in Indian universities, have come underneath the scanner for alleged “leak” of query papers and different irregularities. Within the wake of those developments, the NTA has canceled UGC NET examination whereas handing over the probe of NEET irregularities to India’s premier investigation company Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Cases of such irregularities in examinations not solely undermine the federal government’s position in guaranteeing transparency in state recruitments, but additionally jeopardizes careers of a number of tens of millions of scholars, leading to waste of their time and efforts.
The Indian authorities has responded by eradicating the pinnacle of the NTA and organising a seven-member committee led by Okay. Radhakrishnan, former ISRO (India’s house company) chairman, to advocate reforms in examination processes and information safety.
AI and Blockchain to assist in transparency
Within the mild of those developments, an article revealed in The Indian Express newspaper has acknowledged that the Indian authorities might make the most of the potential of blockchain and AI to make sure transparency in authorities exams.
Expertise performs an important position in modern-day governance and the Indian authorities has been experimenting with blockchain know-how to introduce decentralization in sectors of prescribed drugs, agro-produce and insurance coverage, logistics and authorities college certificates.
NITI Aayog, India’s premier suppose tank, had collaborated with the Indian College of Enterprise (ISB) and Bitgram to create a prototype decentralized ledger of college certificates for college students so as to keep away from probabilities of fraud. Beneath this plan, ‘SuperCert’- a hashed model of certificates was generated for every scholar which had an unique timestamp, that would stop any probabilities of tampering.
Utilizing the identical line of considering, the know-how could possibly be used to introduce transparency in authorities examinations and make sure that neither the query paper will get “leaked” upfront nor the consequence certificates are tampered with.
Preliminary studies relating to the 2 authorities exams had proven that the accused nefarious components had used the darkish net to achieve entry to query papers.
Nonetheless, blaming the darkish net alone is an oversimplification ast the true drawback lies in systemic points that create a requirement for leaked papers. Subsequently, a complete method is critical to deal with this menace. The Radhakrishnan committee ought to contemplate a number of revolutionary measures:
Storing Query Paper on Blockchain: Utilizing the blockchain know-how will assist all stakeholders to make sure tamper free storage of the query papers and hint the historical past of every bundle of papers.
Decentralized Conduct of Examinations: As an alternative of a centralized server managing authorities exams in a whole bunch of centres all through the nation, the NTA can introduce decentralized computing to mitigate Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) assaults.
AI to examine malpractices: AI know-how might be put to make use of to examine cases of irregularities and malpractices by the candidates.
Conclusion
A holistic method is required to deal with the menace of irregularities in on-line authorities exams with using blockchain and AI. Whereas each are rising applied sciences, the Indian authorities shouldn’t hesitate in maximizing their potential to make sure that real candidates don’t really feel cheated.
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