GORDON PIRES
MARGAO/PANJIM: What began as an at tempt to correct a flawed examination has now become another ordeal for hundreds of UGC-NET aspirants in Goa, with sever al candidates discovering that they may have to travel outside the State to appear for the re-test ordered after the National Testing Agency (NTA) botched the original examination. The latest shock came on September 1, when the NTA uploaded the city allocation slips for the re-examination scheduled for September 9 and 10. Several Commerce students from Goa University found them selves allotted Kolhapur in Maharashtra — nearly 230 km from South Goa and involv ing more than five hours of travel one way. For students who had expected to appear for the examination in Goa, the allocation means arranging long-distance transport, accommodation and leave from work at short notice, simply to retake an examina tion they had already appeared for in June. “On September 1, we received the no tification of our examination centre city. Some students from my class, including me, have been allotted Kolhapur. We had not put Kolhapur as our secondary option, and yet we were allotted centres there,” said Commerce candidate Nikhil Gowda.
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The latest disruption comes after the June UGC-NET examination itself came under a cloud over errors in the question paper, including wrong spellings, grammatical mistakes, printing errors, incorrect names of writers and repeated questions. A committee subsequently recommended a re-test for the affected subjects. While candidates are not being charged another examination fee, they say the absence of a fresh fee does not mean the re-test comes without a cost. Travel, accommodation, lost wages, repeated preparation and the need to take leave from work are now being borne by candidates for an error they did not commit. And even candidates whose centres remain within Goa have not been spared. Students who appeared at Panjim during the earlier examination have now been shifted to Mapusa, creating an additional commute for aspirants from South Goa.
For candidates from areas such as Quepem and Margao, the change is particu larly difficult for those allotted the first shift, scheduled from 9 am to noon. A candidate travelling from Quepem to Mapusa faces a commute of nearly 60 km, while the distance from Margao is around 45 km. “I was in Panjim for the July test, but have now been placed in Mapusa, and I’ll have to travel for multiple hours from Quepem,” said Quepem resident and candidate Fianka Baretto. The problem is compounded for two-wheeler users travelling from South Goa.
With two-wheelers not permitted on the Atal Setu, riders have to use the older route across the Mandovi, where morning congestion around Porvorim and on going road work can add considerably to travel time. For candidates appearing in a three-hour examination, the prospect of spend ing hours on the road before reaching the examination hall has become an add ed source of anxiety. For working professionals, meanwhile, the re-test has created a burden that goes well beyond the examination hall. “Having already appeared for the examination in June, it is extremely frustrat ing to be asked to take the exam again due to a discrepancy at the authorities’ end. As working professionals, repeatedly taking leave and preparing the entire syllabus all over again is mentally exhausting. The sudden change in examina tion centres, with many now located farther away, also creates difficulties in travelling, especially for those who have to reach the centres in the morning from distant locations. Candidates should not have to bear the professional, fi nancial and mental burden of an error that was not theirs,” said English candi date Vedha Gawade. She said two other English candidates from her group had also been shifted from Panjim to Mapusa. Goa University Registrar Prof V S Nadkarni said that under the present Com puter-Based Test (CBT) system, examination-centre allocations are handled en tirely by central testing authorities. “In the past, students have sometimes been allotted examination cities as far away as Bengaluru.
In the case of the State Eligibility Test (SET), which is conducted for Maharashtra and Goa by Savitribai Phule Pune University, rep resentations regarding examination-related issues were taken up directly with the conducting authority. Candidates facing problems with their UGC-NET centre allocation should therefore raise their concerns directly with the NTA through its official helpline numbers and email support, where their queries can be addressed,” said Nadkarni. With the revised centre allocation potentially sending some candidates across State borders and others to distant parts of Goa, they argue that the price of cor recting the NTA’s mistake is once again being passed on to them. With English and Commerce candidates scheduled to write the re-test on September 9 and Sociology candidates on September 10, affected aspirants are seeking immediate intervention from the authorities and examination centres closer to their homes.
