New Delhi: The second phase of the Common University Entrance Exam (CUET) for undergraduate admissions has been riddled with glitches, resulting in the cancellation of exams and refunds to students at hundreds of centers across the country.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) – the testing body – has alleged that some centers failed to follow the protocol. But representatives of some centers where CUET was canceled, they blamed the NTA.
first round The CUET exam was conducted from July 15 to 20, and the second phase began last Thursday (August 4). The exam was to be held in two shifts, one in the morning and the other in the evening. Last Thursday was the first shift of the exam Cancelled While 29 centers in 17 states, the second shift was abolished at 489 centres. exam was on friday Cancelled at 50 centres.
Anticipating a similar situation on Saturday, the agency further cancellation CUET-UG at 53 centers for that day. This was informed to the students on Friday night. According to University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman M. Jagdish Kumar, the examination was held On Saturday at 347 centers across the country.
NTA Told In a press statement last week that some centers “failed to adhere to the prescribed protocols” and also warned that “any incident of non-compliance/ sabotage/ ignorance will be viewed very seriously and to ensure smooth functioning”. Strict action will be taken against those centers for conducting examinations in future”.
Kumar too, Told On Sunday, there were reports of sabotage from some centers, due to which the entrance exam had to be given. Cancelled and postponed.
However, ThePrint representatives blamed the CUET cancellation on NTA. Some alleged that the NTA personnel did not come to install the exam software, while others claimed that the officials who were supposed to conduct the exam did not.
When contacted by ThePrint, NTA Director General Dr Vineet Joshi said: “We are investigating each case individually. Action will be taken as per the case.”
CUET is for admission to undergraduate courses in several central, state and deemed universities across the country. according to Official CUET WebsiteThe exam is being conducted at 489 centers spread over around 259 cities in India and 9 cities abroad.
A total of 44 Central Universities, 12 State Universities, 11 Deemed Universities and 19 Private Universities applied to resemble 2022-23. In the first edition of CUET-UG for the academic session of, Around 14.9 lakh candidates – 8.1 lakh in the first phase and 6.80 lakh in the second – are going to take the exam this year, He has applied to 90 universities.
Read also: CUET 1st phase concludes – around 2 lakh students appear for the entrance exam, maximum from UP
‘NTA officials did not do their job properly’
A member of staff at Hindustan Institute of Technology and Management (HITM), Ambala – one of the centers where CUET was canceled on August 4 – claimed that the exam software was not installed on time and the officials who were He had to run it. The exam never happened.
“NTA staff was supposed to come to our institute at 3 pm on Wednesday (a day before the exam). His job was to give demos, install server software and conduct mock exams. The officers arrived at eight o’clock in the night. We had to send our staff to get the server from 30 km away. The installation process lasted till 12 o’clock in the night. The next day, the officials who were supposed to conduct the exam did not turn up,” the member of staff told ThePrint.
The employee further said that the centers should not fear punishment if “NTA officials did not carry out their functions properly”, adding: “We were instructed by our parent regulatory body (All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)) to conduct the examination. We are trying our best and following his instructions. We set up the laboratory as the center, moving our classrooms to other buildings to provide a functional space.
According to the employee, HITM was informed that Thursday’s exam was canceled due to paucity of manpower, and the institute is yet to be informed about the revised exam date.
Something similar happened at the New Era Online Test Service Center in Ghitorni, New Delhi. Center manager, Nokesh Malik told ThePrint: “We conduct several entrance exams at our centre. Firstly the operating agency send us a contract with the requirements. Once it is finalized, they send a person to install the test software (commonly referred to as ‘server’) in our computer. A mock exam is conducted before the final exam goes live. ,
However, on Thursday, no official of the testing agency came to install the exam software, with Malik claiming that several other centers also faced a similar problem. “We received a notice with a contract but no one came to set up the server.”
This center has also not been informed about the rescheduled date of the exam.
Some schools in Delhi hosting CUET told ThePrint that they did not know why the exam was cancelled. An administrative official of the KR Mangalam School in Greater Kailash 2 said he “didn’t know at all”.
An official of Abhinav Public School in Rohini, on condition of anonymity, told ThePrint: “We had closed our school and given the premises to the NTA. We are not aware of the nature of the technical glitches which led to the cancellation of the exam. ,
Officials from another CUET centre, the Asia Pacific Institute of Management, claimed that they were only following the orders laid down by AICTE and had no idea what went wrong.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)