The Ministry of Education has cancelled the UGC NET exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on June 18, after receiving inputs from the Ministry of Home Affairs indicating that the exam’s integrity had been compromised. This cancellation affects more than 9 lakh candidates who will now need to retake the exam.
UGC NET, a national-level exam, is conducted twice a year by the NTA to determine the eligibility of candidates for the positions of ‘Assistant Professor’ and ‘Junior Research Fellowship and Assistant Professor’ as well as for PhD admissions. The exam for the June 2024 cycle was held on June 18 in two shifts across 317 cities. However, due to concerns regarding the integrity of the exam, it was cancelled shortly after.
The Ministry of Education announced the cancellation via its social media platform X, stating, “Government is committed to ensure the sanctity of examinations and protect the interest of students. Ministry of Education has decided that the UGC-NET June 2024 Examination be cancelled on the basis of inputs from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, prima facie indicating that the integrity of the examination may have been compromised.”
Although there have been reports suggesting that the exam paper was leaked, the ministry has not confirmed this. Instead, the matter has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for further investigation.
The UGC-NET exam is typically conducted twice a year, in June and December. The June 2024 exam was held at 1,205 exam centres in 317 cities across the country, with 11,21,225 candidates registered. About 81% of these candidates appeared for the exam.
