New Delhi: A day after the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the UGC-NET exam in three subjects following errors being found in their question papers, the education ministry Monday directed the agency to conduct a thorough audit of all exam processes and submit a report on corrective action taken.
The agency has announced that it will re-conduct the UGC-NET papers for English, Commerce and Sociology after multiple errors were found in the question papers.
The exam was conducted in June. While students had been raising concerns about errors in the question papers found in the UGC-NET exam from the beginning, the NTA acknowledged the issues Sunday and cancelled the exams in these three subjects. The exams will now be conducted afresh on 9 and 10 September.
According to the ministry, Education Minister Pralhad Joshi held a meeting with senior ministry and NTA officials Monday.
“The Minister directed that strict compliance be ensured of the established exam protocols and also directed that a Complete overhaul of Confidential Operations (CONOPS) architecture, secluded rooms, air-gapped systems, device-deposit protocols be implemented on war footing,” the ministry said.
“NTA has been directed to conduct a thorough audit of all exam processes and submit a report on corrective action taken,” it added.
The UGC-NET exam cancellation comes months after the agency faced intense criticism over the NEET-UG paper leak which led to nationwide protests over irregularities. The protests eventually forced the resignation of then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
On 26 July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the constitution of a high-powered task force on examination reforms under the leadership of Nandan Nilekan, co-founder and former chairperson of Infosys.
The cancellation of UGC-NET in three subjects has also drawn widespread criticism from the Opposition. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, “NTA makes the mistake, but the student serves the sentence.”
“Modi ji, look at what your NTA has just done. UGC-NET exams for Sociology, English and Commerce were held between 22 and 30 June. Nearly two months later, NTA has cancelled all three because it set faulty papers and repeated old questions,” Gandhi said in a post on X.
He also questioned whether the papers had been leaked before the exam.
The student wing of the Congress, NSUI, and various Left-affiliated student outfits, including SFI, also protested outside the NTA office in Delhi.
The RSS-affiliated student organisation ABVP also criticised the NTA. “Serious errors in a national-level examination like UGC-NET are deeply concerning. Students should not have to pay the price for NTA’s lapses. Playing with the future of students must stop…,” Virendra Singh Solanki, national general secretary, ABVP, said in a statement.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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