The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Sunday said it will re-conduct the University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) exams for English, commerce and sociology, after a panel found a raft of factual, typographical and translation errors in the question papers, which also repeated portions from previous examinations.
Also Read I UGC NET Exam 2026: 3 papers to be reconducted in September, check schedule here This is the second time UGC-NET papers are being cancelled in three years. In 2024, NTA scrapped the entire exam on June 19, a day after it was conducted, after intelligence inputs indicated that the question paper had been leaked. The government then handed the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which later found that the purported leaked-paper screenshot was doctored and reported no evidence of an actual paper leak.
UGC-NET determines eligibility for Junior Research Fellowships (JRF), assistant professor posts and PhD admissions. The exam is usually held twice a year, in June and December. It was his sixth attempt. Also Read I NTA paper-setting process: From question bank to sealed sets, how exam papers are prepared
Because of NTA and its systemic failure, “What happened with the paper is not my fault, but.
Why should we face these problems?” said a candidate from Jhargram, West Bengal, who appeared for the UGC-NET English paper.
Some students also pointed out that the retest date was days after the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET), to be held on September 6. However, candidates criticised NTA’s move and pointed out that they would have to prepare for the exam afresh, adding that travelling to their allocated centres was an additional expense.
NTA conducts UGC-NET twice a year in 87 subjects in computer-based test (CBT) mode. The agency on Sunday released provisional answer keys for 84 subjects, the results of which will be declared as scheduled.
