The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) on Friday expressed concern over the circumstances leading to the cancellation of the University Grants Commission–National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), 2024, in which over nine lakh candidates appeared.
“This was the first time that the UGC-NET exam supposed to be used for admissions to PhD programmes of universities, which is a policy that the UGC itself made. The implications of the cancellation this time around are therefore much larger and more wide-ranging, as it means that these admissions will also now be delayed, and the academic calendars of institutions will be disturbed,” the teachers’ body said in a statement.
It added that students will now have to mentally prepare themselves for a retest, despite having written it honestly in their first attempt.
“Little has been revealed yet publicly about the nature of the breach that has taken place in the UGC-NET examination. While the swift decision to cancel it may have been prompted by the Centre’s desire to avoid yet another controversy like that around the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), the public has a right to know what went wrong,” the statement said, adding that it demanded the restoration of the JNU entrance examination conducted by the university earlier.
The Education Ministry on Wednesday had announced the cancellation of the examination after inputs from the Ministry of Home Affairs suggested that the integrity of the examinations had been compromised. The move came amid a controversy over alleged irregularities in the conduction of the NEET-UG, prompting backlash from students across the country.
Meanwhile, Congress workers under Delhi party president Devender Yadav held a demonstration outside the BJP headquarters at Rouse Avenue to protest against the “malpractices and corruption” in the conduct of the NEET-UG. Mr. Yadav questioned why the Centre had refused to cancel the examination despite irregularities, while the same was meted out to the UGC-NET.
Published - June 22, 2024 01:07 am IST
