New Delhi: The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) has become an ordeal for students whose exams are being randomly cancelled with many being allotted dates which are a fortnight away. There are others who are still guessing when their exam will be held. There is no method in this madness.
While the National Testing Agency (NTA) claims it had informed the students on Friday, through SMS and email, about the cancellation of an exam to be held on Saturday, some students and their parents TOI spoke to denied they had received any intimation. As a result, they landed up at the centres this morning, only to be turned back, something they have now learnt to dread.
The NTA had cancelled the exams at 53 centres on Friday with 32 of them being in Delhi. “I didn’t receive any information till Saturday morning,” said a student, Sandhya. “So, I went from my home at Rohini to the centre at Noida with my father. Only after reaching there did I find the exam had been postponed to a later date. I never received any communication.”
A Delhi University professor told TOI: “My domestic help travelled from Karol Bagh to Najafgarh at a considerable expense only to find the exam cancelled.”
The NTA’s flip-flop is now making many students wonder whether it would be able to implement the process smoothly at a later date or not. Since August 4, when the second phase of CUET started, several exams have been cancelled due to technical glitches.
“After having gone through the trauma of sitting inside a centre yesterday and not being able to appear for the exams, I am worried,” said a student, Surya Sharma. “There was only a generic mail from NTA stating that my exam will be held between August 12-14. Why can’t they be more organised and save us from this harassment!”
The NTA has now postponed the exams scheduled for August 8 with most candidates getting August 22 as the date. That has created more confusion since the exams were supposed to end on August 20.
“When I logged in to check my centre for the August 8 exam, I got to know it had been postponed to August 22,” said Ayushman Talukdar. “You are in a certain state of mind, and then the exams are postponed again. NTA should realise how many exams we have appeared for in the past few months. I just want this to be over.”
Many students had planned to take a break after putting all the exams and their traumatic year behind them. Some wanted to move on and prepare for other exams. Those plans have now got disrupted.
“I would like to know why my dates of August 7 and 8 have been shifted to August 21 and 22. This sudden change of dates is affecting my mental peace and stressing me out but the NTA only replies ‘We will get back to you’,” said an exasperated Pranay Gupta.
Some students have faced another peculiar situation. They claim they had earlier received an email stating their exams were scheduled for August 10. But when they logged in to check, their admit card showed August 6 as the date. “I realised this just 10 minutes before the exam was to begin on August 6. Now I don’t know whether I have missed the exam or if it is some technical glitch. I don’t know what to do. I have sent an email to NTA but haven’t received any reply,” said an aspirant, Anita.
The NTA is, meanwhile, venting its fury on the centres. It said on Saturday that action will be taken against the centres for not complying with protocols. These centres are likely to be delisted. “It was found that some of the centres failed to comply with laid down protocols. Any incident of non-compliance/ sabotage/ ignorance will be viewed very seriously and strict action will be taken against those centres to ensure smooth conduct of examinations in future,” it said in a statement.
The candidates who are facing a clash of exams due to change in the CUET dates are being asked to email both admit cards so that a new date can be allotted, said an official.
Some candidates’ admit cards are showing their new exam dates beyond the last official date of August 20, with no mention of the centres. This has only added to the confusion. There are other candidates whose exams are scheduled for August 7, 8 and 10 but they are yet to receive their admit cards.
“For those candidates whose exams were cancelled and will be rescheduled from August 12, NTA will issue a detailed notification with dates,” said an official. “The ones who have their exam on the next three dates but have not received admit cards should wait for they will be allotted a different date as they could not be accommodated in the city of their first choice. The NTA is going to extend the dates to accommodate all the candidates without further inconvenience.”
Meanwhile, the exams that had not been cancelled were held without a glitch on Saturday. Security had been increased with the students being asked to remove their earrings, rings and belts.
Students who appeared for the CUET exam at Delhi University stadium did not face any problem.
Vaibhav Tripathi, who had come all the way from Najafgarh to the centre at Delhi University stadium for his history exam, said: “Till the time I entered the examination hall, I was uncertain if things would proceed smoothly. However, everything was fine.” He has another exam scheduled for August 8 and his centre is at Bahadurgarh in Haryana. “I had selected Delhi as my preference. I don’t know how I have been allotted this centre,” he said.
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