Haywire schedule, technical glitches, far-flung centres: How CUET failed students

The Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG) 2022, organised by the National Testing Agency (NTA) has since day one disappointed thousands of students as it encountered technical snags.

In the latest development, several students complained of change in centres at the last moment, far off centres and no clarity on retest options.

The ambitious common entrance exam has so far created more problems than solutions for students, let’s see how CUET has let down students:

What is CUET-UG?

The Central University Entrance Test (CUET)-Undergraduate (UG) is an all-India level examination for admission to different undergraduate programmes in central universities across the country.

According to The New Indian Express, 14,90,000 students have registered for CUET-UG 2022. Of these, 810,000 have been allotted Phase I and 680,000 will take Phase II of the exam.

The exam is conducted in 13 languages – Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

CUET ran into problems in phase 1

Starting from July 15, CUET has been embroiled in controversy as only 76.48 per cent students attended the exam in phase 1.

According to NTA data, of the 2,50,495 candidates allotted slots in Phase 1, only 191,586 appeared for the exam.

Several students missed the exam on 15 July amid confusion created by last-minute centre changes and cancellations.

Exams were also cancelled at New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Pathankot in Punjab due to technical reasons.

A total of 1,58,909 candidates missed their allotted slots, out of 2,50,495 students who were to write the exams in phase 1.

Technical problems continue

Students were in for a rude shock on the first day of phase 2 of CUET as the NTA announced that the test on 4 August was cancelled across 29 centres in 17 states and Union Territories in the morning shift.

The exam conducting agency claimed that due to “technical issues, the centres were unable to get access to the question papers.”

The NTA said that there were several technical issues because of which the centres were unable to get access to the question papers, The Indian Express reported.

“The question paper for the second shift of the examination could only be uploaded at 5 pm and the download at 489 centres could start at 5:25 pm, while the exam was scheduled to begin from 3 pm.”

Apart from Delhi and Ladakh, the affected centres were located across 15 states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

On Wednesday, the second day of the CUET’s fourth phase, students complained of change in centres at the last moment, far off centres and no clarity on retest options.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) announced that the candidates affected on Wednesday will get a chance for a retest on 25 August.

A total of 3.6 lakh candidates are eligible to appear for the fourth phase scheduled from 17-20 August.
The exam for additional 11,000 candidates, who were to appear in the fourth phase from 17-20 August has been postponed to 30 August to accommodate their choice of city for the centre.

According to the initial plan, all phases of the CUET UG were scheduled to conclude on 20 August.
However, the NTA later announced that all phases of the exam will conclude on 28 August.

Now, the schedule has been further deferred and the exam has been split into six phases. The second phase of CUET was marred by glitches prompting the agency to cancel the exam at various centres. UGC Chief Jagadesh Kumar had said the exam was cancelled at various centres following indications and reports of “sabotage”.

The exam in the second and third phases was also cancelled at centres in Kerala and Itanagar due to rains and landslides.

With inputs from agencies

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