ABVP slams NTA over UGC-NET errors, demands action

The ABVP on Monday said the National Testing Agency (NTA) must be accountable for serious factual, typographical, translation and language-related errors in the UGC-NET question papers, asserting that students’ future cannot be compromised. In a statement, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) expressed serious concerns over the re-examination of the English, Commerce and Sociology papers of UGC-NET 2026.

The student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said such serious errors in a national-level examination raise questions over the quality and credibility of the entire process, and asked the NTA to explain how the errors occurred and why those were not detected during the preparation of the question paper and the review process.

“Serious errors in a national-level examination like UGC-NET are deeply concerning. Students should not have to pay the price for NTA’s lapses. Playing with the future of students must stop,” ABVP national general secretary Virendra Singh Solanki was quoted as saying in the statement. “NTA must ensure proper examination-centre allocation and adequate travel arrangements for students appearing in the re-examination, so that they do not face additional financial or mental stress,” he added.

Solanki said the agency must also ensure that such lapses are not repeated and fix clear accountability for every stage of the examination process. The ABVP firmly cautions that if students’ concerns are not addressed within a stipulated time and necessary reforms are not implemented, it will strongly raise these issues with students across the country, he said. Solanki asserted that the ABVP is committed to the students’ demands and will continue its efforts until a credible, transparent and reliable examination system is ensured.

The ABVP said students are being made to bear the cost of repeated examinations in terms of their time, money and academic plans. It further said merely conducting a re-examination cannot be the solution and the NTA must strengthen question-paper preparation, expert review, translation, proofreading and final quality checks, while fixing clear accountability for lapses.

The organisation said it is gathering suggestions from students, academicians and other stakeholders for examination reforms.

“Meetings have already been held in Chandigarh, Delhi and Patna, and the suggestions will be placed before the high-level committee constituted for examination reforms. ABVP stands firmly with students and will continue to raise their concerns until they are resolved,” it said.

The NTA on Sunday announced a retest for three papers — English, Commerce and Sociology — of the UGC-NET examination that was held in June, following complaints of several errors in these papers.

The English and Commerce papers will be held on September 9, while the Sociology re-test will be conducted the next day.

CPI(M) demands scrapping of NTA, NEP 2020

New Delhi: The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday reiterated its demand to scrap both the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, terming them the “root cause of the decay in the education system.”

The left party’s demand comes in the wake of errors discovered in three UGC-NET examination papers recently conducted by the NTA. In a statement issued from its central committee office, the CPI(M) said the “disgraceful episode” has once again exposed the entrenched rot in the country’s education system and laid bare the NTA’s “abject incompetence” to conduct national-level examinations.

Deploring the response of the ruling establishment, the CPI(M) alleged that instead of remedying the disastrous consequences of the NEP, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates are targeting those who question the system. Highlighting a recent incident in West Bengal, the party pointed to the murder of Janab Mafik in Bankura district — who was allegedly killed for drawing attention to the lack of infrastructure in a local school — calling it the “epitome of their intolerance.”