UGC’s role on pushing pen-paper exams now under the lens of govt and reform panel

As the issue of paper leaks is inspected further, National Testing Agency (NTA) late on Friday announced new dates for three exams: National Common Entrance Test (NCET), University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), and Joint Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-UGC-NET. All these exams will be conducted as computer-based tests (CBT). Ministry of education as well as seven-member exam reform panel are reviewing these changes made “at the insistence of UGC”, reported ToI.

As part of the investigations into the alleged Central Selection Board of Constable (CSBC) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 paper leak cases, it has been revealed that security breaches were observed during transportation of question papers. This has led to scrutiny of NTA, which was established to conduct “high-quality” exams digitally with minimal human interference and in collaboration with a credible technology partner.

“UGC insisted on making CUET-UG hybrid or pen-paper in 2023 itself. However, NTA disagreed and conducted the exam in CBT mode. The first edition faced a lot of criticism due to technical glitches, and in 2023, it was conducted over a month. However, like JEE (Main), the exam’s integrity was not questioned and there were no technical glitches. With change of leadership in NTA last year, UGC once again wanted the exam to be conducted in hybrid mode, with papers for a large number of candidates delivered in pen-paper mode,” said a source to NTA.

Despite criticism over delays, glitches, and centres lacking basic amenities, NTA has been “performing adequately with computer-based JEE (Main) and UGC-NET since 2018,” according to a senior MoE official. Official added, “It is intriguing that UGC reportedly wanted UGC-NET to be in pen-paper mode, and this decision by the commission also needs to be questioned.”

(With ToI inputs)