Taking forward its novel initiative of providing
academic qualifications in digital format, Ministry of Human Resource
Development will make available in de-mat form the results of the
Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET), 2011, to be announced on
Tuesday. The results of the recently announced Class XII exam, conducted
by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), will alsooking aspirations be
available in electronic format.
The Ministry has
initiated the process of establishment of a National Academic Depository
(NAD) – national database of academic qualifications in an electronic
format to facilitate the online verification of academic awards issued
by various State education boards and universities. This will also help
in curbing attempts to issue fake or forged certificates.
Following
drafting of the National Academic Depository Bill, 2011, which has been
cleared by the Cabinet and is listed for tabling in Parliament in the
coming session, the Ministry had asked the CBSE to carry out the pilot
project for technical feasibility of the process. This would also save
time in implementing the project once the Bill is passed in the
Parliament.
The pilot was to be undertaken with two
agencies – Central Depository Services (India) Ltd and the National
Securities Depositories Limited (NSDL) – as these are the only two
depositories registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI). The two were awarded the pilot projects in January and completed
the pilot which has been built, owned and operated by them.
Talking
to reporters here, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said the academic
depository would provide access to CBSE to database, facilitate it to
efficiently lodge in the database the academic qualifications awarded by
it, in addition to providing online verification of any specific
academic qualifications lodged in the database. It will also provide an
authenticated copy of any specific academic qualification when
requested.
Mr. Sibal said adequate systems and
safeguards had been put in place to ensure that its automated data
processing systems are secure against unauthorised access, alteration,
destruction, disclosure or manipulation. There will be back-up for
recovery in case of any loss, destruction or any other contingency of
data in the database.
Once the Bill is passed, an
expert committee will choose one of the two depositories for running the
National Academic Depository which may also choose to implement tariff.