NTA announces fresh dates for 3 crucial exams amid raging row over alleged irregularities

NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday night announced the new dates of cancelled and postponed examinations, including the UGC-NET, amid a raging row over alleged irregularities in their conduct. The UGC-NET, which was cancelled a day after being conducted on June 18, will now be held from August 21 to September 4.

The exam was cancelled after the education ministry received inputs that the integrity of the exam was compromised. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said the question paper was leaked on the darknet and circulated on the Telegram app. In a shift from the earlier pattern, the exam was conducted in offline mode this time and on a single day.

However, the rescheduled exam will now be conducted according to the earlier pattern of Computer Based Test (CBT) spread across a fortnight. The CSIR UGC-NET, which was postponed as a preemptive measure, will be conducted from July 25 to July 27.

The National Common Entrance Test (NCET) for admission to the four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) in select Central and state universities or institutions, including IITs, NITs, RIEs, and government colleges, which was postponed hours before its schedule on June 12, will now be conducted on July 10.