After the government eliminated the UGC-NET exam, which is used to select candidates for junior research fellowships and fill assistant professor positions in universities and colleges, student protests erupted across the nation’s college campuses.
The University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), which was scheduled for June, was canceled, according to the Education Ministry yesterday, following submissions that suggested “the integrity of the examination may have been compromised.”
However, since June 16 in the evening, students at Lucknow University have claimed that their Paper-1 was leaked and was being sold for ₹ 5,000–Rs 10,000 through Telegram and WhatsApp groups. They claimed that even after raising the issue online, the UGC did nothing.
Student protests have rocked university campuses across the country after the government scrapped the UGC-NET exam, which is held to fill Assistant Professor posts in universities and colleges and to determine eligibility for junior research fellowships.
The Education ministry said yesterday its June exam of the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) was scrapped after inputs that indicate that “the integrity of the examination may have been compromised”.
Students at Lucknow University, however, claimed that their Paper-1 was leaked and were being sold for ₹ 5,000-Rs 10,000 through WhatsApp and Telegram groups since the evening of June 16. They said they even flagged the matter online, but the UGC took no action.
“Instead of cancelling the exam, they stood by their decision to go ahead with it. The result was that the exam had to be cancelled in the end,” said a student.
Over nine lakh candidates on Tuesday appeared for the UGC-NET exam in OMR (pen and paper) on Tuesday. But they were not provided a carbon copy with the OMR, the students claimed.
“If we had the carbon copy, we could have challenged the NTA,” they said.
The students also shared with NDTV the psychological pressure they face due to their age as their families wait for them to get employed.
“NET candidates are of the age where they are expected to start earning. At this level, when papers are cancelled or leaked, where will such aspirants go? We cannot even do jobs. We are allotted exam centres far away which makes it difficult to get public transportation. Where will we get money for cabs?” asked a student.
They claimed that after enduring the intense summer heat to get to distant exam locations during the afternoon, when it is the hottest of the day, they learned the next day that their efforts had been in vain.
“In this heat, we come to the university to study. After six months of preparation, we are given exam locations that are 12–20 kilometers away. After the exam, we find out it was leaked, and we have to travel the entire way in this intense heat. In my opinion, the papers have already been leaked. Another person compared it to a movie that is initially produced and then released at a later time.
There is already controversy surrounding the National Testing Agency, which administers the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test, because of anomalies in the NEET medical entrance exams.
The NEET controversy concerns claims of a paper leak and grace marks given to more than 1,500 applicants. The education minister denied the paper leak, even though the grace marks were later removed and the students were given the opportunity to retake the exam. But four men who were detained in Bihar this morning acknowledged their involvement in the paper leak investigation.
