The Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG for candidates who were affected by cancellations last week amid technical glitches will now be conducted from August 24 to 28, officials said on Sunday, even as the National Testing Agency is planning a host of steps of ensure a smooth conduct of the remaining tests.
Among the steps being taken by NTA are sending question papers early to the examination centers, keeping back-up servers ready, launching an additional grievance redressal email ID, and deploying officials outside the centres to provide support to students and parents, an official said.
University Grants Commission (UGC) chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said there were indications of “sabotage” in the conduct of the exam and that tests at certain centres were cancelled keeping the best interest of students in mind. Kumar said strict action will be taken against anyone involved in “wilful sabotage” of the process.
The changes are being introduced after the cancellation of CUET-UG exams at several centres between August 4 and August 6 due to technical glitches. While on August 4, all exams scheduled in the evening shift were cancelled at all 489 centres across the country, 50 and 53 centres were affected on August 5 and 6, respectively. More than 50,000 students were affected due to the technical glitches being reported at their centers during this period, according to another official.
The exams for all affected students will now be conducted between August 24 and August 28, NTA announced on Sunday. Earlier, these exams were scheduled between August 12 and August 14. Explaining the reason behind extending the dates, NTA said that as many as 15,811 candidates requested that the tests not be rescheduled to a much later date. “Considering their requests, it has been decided that in place of August 12 to 14 August, the examination for all these candidates will now be conducted between August 24 and August 28,” the agency said.
{{/usCountry}}The exams for all affected students will now be conducted between August 24 and August 28, NTA announced on Sunday. Earlier, these exams were scheduled between August 12 and August 14. Explaining the reason behind extending the dates, NTA said that as many as 15,811 candidates requested that the tests not be rescheduled to a much later date. “Considering their requests, it has been decided that in place of August 12 to 14 August, the examination for all these candidates will now be conducted between August 24 and August 28,” the agency said.
{{/usCountry}}Fresh admit cards will be issued well before the date of examination, Kumar said.
Senior officials at NTA said that several steps were being taken to ensure that the issues faced by students last week were not repeated. A senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that normally, they upload question papers on the central server very close to the examination time in order to maintain confidentiality of the examination and to ensure that no unscrupulous elements get access to the question papers before the exam begins. “In the case of CUET, the size of the files carrying the question papers is very big. It is taking more than anticipated time to download these papers at some centres due to low internet connectivity and which is why NTA had to reschedule exams at some of these centres,” the second official said.
“Therefore, NTA has now decided to give a sufficient time window for uploading and downloading to the centres by sending question papers a little early,” the added.
Unlike other entrance exams, including JEE, CUET-UG has a large number of subject combinations. “In JEE, only three subjects are there. But CUET-UG is conducted for 61 subjects in 13 languages. It means a large number of papers have to be uploaded and downloaded at a time,” the official said.
The agency will also keep back-up servers ready in case the centres need it during the time of the examination. It has also launched an exclusive grievance redressal email ID (cuetgrievance@nta.ac.in) and asked the candidates to directly write to it about their grievances. “The grievances will be addressed and examination for such candidates, if required, will also be conducted after August 20,” the official said.
NTA has also decided to deploy schoolteachers outside the examination centres. “Schoolteachers are being deployed as they have more experience of dealing with the students with empathy. Due to the efforts and corrective actions taken by NTA, we are hopeful that in the coming days, the CUET will be conducted smoothly,” said the UGC chairperson.
NTA will also be taking action against examination centres who failed to comply with the “laid down protocols” resulting in repeated glitches, causing inconvenience to thousands of students. “At some centres, the centre staff should have shown more empathy with the students. There were also reports and indications of sabotage in the process. NTA immediately swung into action and cancelled and postponed examinations in centres which witnessed such a possibility. Strict action will be taken against anyone involved in wilful sabotage of the process,” Kumar said.
The remaining CUET exams are scheduled on August 8, 10, 17, 18, 20, and between August 24 and 28.