On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education made a significant announcement regarding the cancellation of the UGC-NET June 2024 examination due to concerns over compromised exam integrity. This decision follows input received from the National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit, prompting actions to uphold transparency and sanctity in the examination process.
According to Pradhan, the UGC-NET exam was canceled as a result of a leak of the paper on the Darknet. He said, "We decided to cancel the examination once it became clear that the UGC-NET question paper on the Dark Net matched the original UGC-NET question paper."
Exam dates, according to Pradhan, will be revealed soon. He further stated that the paper leak is an institutional failure of NTA. "We are assuring you that there will be a reform committee and action will be taken," he said. "Regarding the paper leak, the I4C organization provided input. We examined the questions and discovered that the issue is one of question leaks," said Pradhan.
"Paper leaks are an institutional failure of NTA. We are promising you that steps will be taken and that a reform committee will be established," he added.
Addressing the switch on conducting the exam in offline written format rather than the CBT mode, Pradhan stated that it is the agency's call.
"It is up to the examining agency; both CBT and OMR are acceptable. This year, the NTA administered exams to more than 80 lakh students for various exams; both formats are beneficial in their own right, and the government is a committee in upholding transparency."
On Tuesday, June 18, 1205 exam centers located in 317 cities nationwide hosted the UGC-NET. 6,35,587 females, 4,85,579 males, and 59 candidates of the third gender took the exam, totaling over 11 lakh candidates. Compared to the 9,45,872 registered candidates for the UGC-NET December 2023 Exam last year, this represents an increase.
