Students Protest Outside NTA Office in Okhla Over UGC-NET Re-Exam Circular
Student groups staged a protest outside the National Testing Agency (NTA) office in Okhla on Monday, demanding accountability from the testing body after a circular called for re-examinations in three UGC-NET subjects. The re-tests for sociology, english, and commerce have been scheduled to take place within three weeks.
According to the official circular, the decision to cancel the previously held examinations for sociology, english, and commerce stemmed from factual and grammatical errors discovered in the question papers, alongside the repetition of questions from previous years.
Students and online educators strongly objected to the sudden decision, raising concerns over how the agency handled the examination process months after the tests had been conducted. Protesters pointed out that the cancellation placed undue mental and academic stress on candidates.
Sant Kumar, a PhD scholar from Jamia Millia Islamia, questioned the agency's oversight during the initial drafting and approval of the question papers, noting that the agency took two months following the exams to acknowledge the grammatical issues.
Online educators who joined the demonstration alleged that the sociology question paper suffered from discrepancies and leaks. However, they argued that the english and commerce question papers had no such issues and maintained that repeating previous year questions was an unfair ground to force students to retake the exam.
The protesting groups raised several key demands, including the postponement of the scheduled re-tests, the reallocation of examination centres, and the scrapping of the NTA as the nodal testing agency.
Highlighting the pressure on aspirants, Students' Federation of India (SFI) member Sharanya Verma noted that re-examinations cannot be organized in haste, emphasizing that candidates require adequate time to prepare given the overall toll competitive exams take on students.
