‘No transparency in UGC NET 2024 cancellation’, JNUTA demands JNUEE for PhD admission

NEW DELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) has condemned the cancellation of UGC NET June 2024 session stating that the “implications are much larger and more wide-ranging, as it means that these admissions will also now be delayed and the academic calendars of institutions will be disturbed”. It also talked about the mental stress and the uncertainty caused by the cancellation.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) issued the “successful conduct of UGC NET '' notification on June 18 and a day after the ministry of education announced the cancellation of the exam, in which 9 lakh candidates took part. University Grants Commission - National Eligibility Test (UGC NET 2024) is held for eligibility for junior research fellows, assistant professor, and PhD admission.

“The UGC in fact on 19th June issued public notices regarding adoption of the “policy of allowing HEI’s to admit students twice a year”, and also a second one reminding HEI’s of its power to take punitive action against them if they do not conduct exams and declare results in time as it “hampers the students' further academic prospects”.

Highlighting the “irony of making such announcements, on the very day that the education ministry announced cancellation of the exam and a CBI enquiry because the ‘integrity may have been compromised’, was lost on the UGC,” the teachers group said.

Also read NEET UG 2024 row: High-level committee to study functioning of NTA, says Dharmendra Pradhan

Lag in PhD admission

The higher educational institutions (HEIs) have been trying to eliminate the disruptions of academic calendar that have lingered on since the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of the UGC NET exam has only made the prospects of reducing the gap “worse”, the JNUTA said.

“The lag in PhD admissions, which is of almost a semester at the moment, will become more difficult to eliminate. The cancellation of the UGC-NET June 2024 examination also, however, serves to highlight the perils of over centralization and erosion of university autonomy in such matters as admission,” it said.

Also read UGC NET 2024 paper leaked on Darknet, re-exam date soon; Dharmendra Pradhan

Restore JNUEE for PhD admission

In March 2024, the UGC decided to allow universities to offer admission into PhD programmes based on the NTA NET exam. Following this, colleges including JNU, announced the change in admission policy and said that the JNUEE for PhD will be replaced with the UGC NET exam. The JNUTA alleged that this decision was imposed on JNU faculty.

“They were not a product of the considered academic judgment of the faculty and in fact had aroused widespread concern and opposition. The JNU Administration then and now are also therefore responsible for the mess we find ourselves in. The JNUTA therefore demands restoration of the JNU entrance examination conducted by the University and a genuine democratic process of consultation with the faculty of all Centres and Schools in this matter,” it added.

No transparency

It also pointed out that a “little has been revealed publicly about the nature of the breach that has taken place in the UGC-NET examination. While the swift decision to cancel may have been prompted by the Government’s desire to avoid yet another controversy like that around the NEET 2024, the public has a right to know what went wrong”.

The teachers said it is important to close the possible gaps in the system so that any future examinations “do not suffer the same fate”. Urging the officials to do it transparently “in a way that restores and maintains public confidence about competitive examinations”.

“All of these cannot wait for a CBI inquiry and any criminal proceedings that follow to be completed. It is the NTA, the UGC and the Ministry of Education which have to be held accountable for the system failure that clearly took place and it is their responsibility to ensure complete transparency about what that failure was. The JNUTA therefore demands that they issue a full disclosure statement on the matter,” the teachers demanded.