NEW DELHI: The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) ran into technical glitch on Saturday, with 3,765 students across the country unable to take up the computer-based test. The glitch delayed the start of the examination by over two hours and was cancelled at some centres. The National Testing Agency (NTA) said it will make arrangement for affected students to write the exam on a different date as a one-time measure.
The NTA had earlier stated that all students were able to take the exam, though there were delays. However, affected students took to social media to state that they could not take the exam. Many students who appeared for the test at Adarsh Pariksha Kendra, an examination centre, at Sector 64 in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, claimed that their exam was cancelled. Towards the end of the day, the NTA said that hundreds of students had missed the exam.
In an official statement, the agency said, “Earlier today, some centres faced a technical glitch that delayed the start of Shift 1 (Morning shift). The technical service provider, TCS iON, has been asked to conduct a Root-Cause Analysis and submit its report immediately.”
Most candidates were able to take up the exams after the glitch was sorted out, it said. “We understand that 3,765 candidates who were present and had completed biometric registration chose to leave before the exam could restart,” it said.
K Krithivasan, CEO and MD of TCS, said, “A brief technical issue caused a delay of around two hours in the CUET-UG examination in the morning shift today. The issue was identified and resolved by our technical teams and the examination has since resumed without any impact to sanctity of the exam.”
An X user Tarak Sharma wrote, “Students of Adarsh Pariksha Kendra Noida Sector 64 were asked to leave and no information was given that the exam is going to be taken in the second shift. What about those who live 30 km away from the center and already got home?”
Another user Rahul Dhanwaria posted, “My brother’s exam centre was in Noida, and after making them wait 2 to 2.30 hours, they asked them to leave and said the test would be conduced again later, on some other day.”