NTA postpones joint CSIR-UGC-NET citing ‘logistical issues’

Testing agency says revised schedule will be announced later through the official website and asked the students to keep checking the site for any updates

Amid multiple controversies that the NTA is currently embroiled in, the agency on June 21 issued a notification postponed due to “unavoidable circumstances and logistical issues”.

Amid multiple controversies that the National Testing Agency (NTA) is currently embroiled in, the agency on June 21 issued a notification postponed due to “unavoidable circumstances and logistical issues”.

The notification stated: “The candidates are hereby informed that the Joint CSIR-UGC-NET Examination June-2024 which was scheduled to be held between 25.06.2024 to 27.06.2024 is being postponed due to unavoidable circumstances as well as logistic issues. The revised schedule for the conduct of this examination will be announced later through the official website.” Candidates have been asked to keep checking the official website.

Joint CSIR UGC-NET is conducted to determine the eligibility of Indian nationals for the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), Assistant Professor positions and PhD admissions in accordance with the eligibility criteria laid down by UGC.

This comes days after the Union Education Ministry cancelled UGC-NET following inputs from the Union Home Ministry suggesting that the integrity of the examination had been compromised. Over the past few days, students across the country have been questioning the testing agency over the irregularities in NEET-UG, and now about the cancellation of UGC-NET.

CSIR-NET is just conducted for five science subjects — Life Science, Earth Science, Physical Science, Chemical Science, and Mathematics, while UGC-NET is conducted for the whole of humanities.

Students in New Delhi said they will continue protesting against the “NTA’s inefficiencies”.

National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) said in a statement: “The CSIR-NET exam has been cancelled amidst growing concerns over the integrity of the examination process”.

“After back-to-back failures in conducting exams, Narendra Modi should ask Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign and impose an immediate ban on the NTA. The repeated leaks and mishandling of exams have severely impacted the future of countless students, and decisive action is needed to restore faith in our education system,” NSUI further said.