Explained | CUET conundrum: Why chaos struck entrance exam

Billed as India’s second biggest examination, which is making its debut, it will decide the future of as many as 14,90,000 students who have enrolled to take the test

Students come out after appearing for the Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET UG 2022), in the first slot, at North Campus in New Delhi. (Photo | PTI)

Billed as India’s second biggest examination, which is making its debut, it will decide the future of as many as 14,90,000 students who have enrolled to take the test.

What is CUET-UG?
The Central University Entrance Test (CUET)-Undergraduate (UG) is a mandatory all-India level examination for admission to different undergraduate programmes in central universities.

It’s a single window to seek admission to participating universities/institutes.

Envisaged as part of NEP, CUET hopes to resolve the high cut-off problem and make admission a level-playing field.

14,90,000 students have registered for CUET-UG 2022. Of these, 810,000 have been allotted Phase I and 680,000 will take Phase II of the exam.

Exam schedules are divided into two slots: 9 am to 12:15 pm and 3 pm to 6:45 pm. Exam conducted in 13 languages - Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odiya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

When did it start?
Billed as India’s second biggest exam, it was to be conducted in two phases, starting July 15, 16,19, 20 and August 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 20 across 547 Indian and 12 cities abroad, including Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, UAE and Kuwait.

How was the exam conducted?
On the Computer Based Test (CBT) mode. Exam pattern was Objective Type Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs).

Which universities – both government and private – come under CUET?
44 central universities
12 state universities
11 deemed universities
19 private universities

• Exam began on July 15 amid confusion with last-minute centre changes and cancellations. This led to many students missing taking the exam. About 19 students allowed to take retest in the second phase on August 4.
• On July 15, exams at two centres in New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Pathankot in Punjab were cancelled for technical reasons. Around 190 students were to take retest in the second phase.
• The cancellation also hit students seeking admission to the five-year integrated MSc programme at the Central University of Odisha. This hasn’t helped Odisha private colleges or universities to open up their admission as CUO is the only educational institution that offers the course.
• In Andhra Pradesh, one CUET exam was deferred for technical reasons.
• In Telangana, three central universities – University of Hyderabad, English and Foreign Languages University and Maulana Azad National Urdu University – are waiting for CUET to be conducted to start their admissions processes for UG courses.
• Only 76.48 per cent attendance was recorded for Phase I

1,58,909 candidates missed their allotted slots.

What was the fiasco?

• According to NTA data, of the 2,50,495 candidates allotted slots in Phase 1, only 191,586 appeared for the exam.
• As confusion prevailed, PUC classes had already begun as early June
• A bigger fiasco hit Phase-2 on August 4, with postponements and cancellations from the first day. The NTA, which conducts the exam, announced that the test was cancelled across 29 centres in 17 states and Union Territories in the morning shift.
• Central University of Kerala depends on CUET to fill 40 seats for BA International Relations and Politics course run from it Thiruvananthapuram campus. Now, admissions will be delayed as NTA put off the CUET test and new dates are yet to be announced.

In the second shift, exams at 489 centres were cancelled. They were rescheduled for August 12.

• The same day, NTA also postponed the CUET-UG in Kerala, scheduled for August 4, 5 and 6, due to heavy rains. Fresh dates were to be announced later.
• On the second day, technical glitches were again reported. Exams for the first shift were postponed at 20 centres. At 30 centres, the second shift exam was postponed.
• On August 6, NTA announced that exam postponement at 53 centres. It was to be held between August 12 and14.
• But next day, both NTA and UGC announced that the rescheduled Phase 2 exam for August 12-14 was cancelled due to technical glitches, logistics and administrative problems.
• They would now be held from August 24 to 28. Reason furnished: festivities, change in dates or cities by students. Fresh admit cards would be issued.

Poor communication added to confusion and chaos

• UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said Phase 3 of the exam on August 17,18 and 20 would be on schedule.
• Repeated cancellations earned NTA brickbats from Congress’ Rahul Gandhi. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan sought to firefight, meeting NTA, AICTE and ministry officials to review arrangements for the test.
• Jagadesh Kumar said there were reports of suspected sabotage. NTA immediately swung into action and cancelled and postponed exams at centres where suspected sabotage may have occurred. He said strict action will be taken against saboteurs.
• He said a unique email id cuetgrievance@nta.ac.in created to receive and address queries and grievances. More school teachers would be deployed to deal with students.

Unending glitches

On August 8, the exam went off smoothly. But at two centres at Itanagar (Rajiv Gandhi University and NIT), where of the 36 and 154 candidates, respectively, who were scheduled to take the test, only three turned up due to very heavy landslides. The exam for candidates who couldn’t reach these two centres rescheduled for August 24-28.

Outliers
CUET score is not considered for admission to Kerala colleges under Mahatma Gandhi University, Calicut University and Kannur University. Colleges under these universities follow an admission process based on marks in qualifying exams and allotment is done through a single window online system.