New Delhi: Several student organisations staged protests outside the National Testing Agency (NTA) office in Delhi on Monday, August 17, demanding the scrapping of the testing body over alleged irregularities in the June 2026 UGC-NET examination. The protests followed the NTA's decision to conduct fresh examinations for three subjects after serious flaws were found in their question papers.
Students and representatives of organisations including the Students' Federation of India (SFI), All India Students' Association (AISA), National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and other groups criticised the NTA, accusing it of repeatedly failing to ensure fair and transparent examinations. Protesters argued that students should not be made to bear the consequences of errors committed by the examination agency.
The immediate trigger for the protests was the NTA's decision to cancel the June UGC-NET papers in English, Commerce and Sociology and conduct a re-examination. An expert review committee identified factual, typographical, language and translation-related errors in the question papers. Reports also pointed to repeated questions and other deficiencies.
The re-examination has been scheduled for September 9 and 10, with candidates not required to pay an additional examination fee. The NTA has also clarified that the number of qualifying candidates and subject-wise allocations will not be reduced because of the re-test.
Student groups, however, said the decision has created fresh uncertainty for thousands of candidates who had already completed the examination and were waiting for results. They questioned why the flaws were identified only after a considerable period and argued that the affected candidates should not be forced to repeat the examination because of administrative failures.
At the Delhi protest, demonstrators demanded greater accountability and called for the NTA to be dismantled. Some groups also announced plans for wider demonstrations across the country, saying the controversy had exposed deeper problems in the management of major national-level examinations.
The controversy comes as the NTA faces broader scrutiny over its examination systems. In a separate development, the agency has removed more than 50 staff members and begun bringing in specialists in areas including examination security, cybersecurity, psychometrics and technology as part of an organisational overhaul.
With students continuing to demand accountability, the UGC-NET row has once again placed the credibility, transparency and functioning of the NTA under intense public scrutiny.
