NSUI stages protest against NTA in Delhi over alleged 2026 UGC-NET examination irregularities

Later, clashes broke out between security personnel and protesters at the site.

The protest comes after the NTA announced a re-examination in English, Commerce, and Sociology under the 2026 UGC-NET examination papers.

"NTA had received several complaints about multiple errors in the papers of English, Commerce and Sociology. NTA formed a committee to enquire into and look into these errors and as per the recommendation of the committee, NTA will re-conduct exams in these subjects to ensure a fair and error-free examination," said NTA.

Reacting to the development, the NSUI demanded accountability from the agency's leadership. The student body asserted that thousands of candidates will now be forced to retake the exam in September due to incorrect and repeated questions in the paper.

Emphasising candidates' innocence, the NSUI declared that students are paying the price for examination irregularities caused by a system incapable of conducting tests properly.

"The UGC-NET Sociology, English, and Commerce exams, scheduled to be held between June 22 and 30, were cancelled by the NTA nearly two months later. Due to incorrect questions and repetition of old questions in the paper, thousands of students will now have to retake the exam in September. The mistake is NTA's, but the punishment is for the students. How long will this tampering continue with the years of hard work, money, time, and mental health of the students? The NTA must also clarify--were the papers leaked before the exam? Dharamendra Pradhan's resignation was the first step, not the last. Accountability must also be fixed for the NTA's leadership. Students are not at fault. The fault lies with the system that cannot even conduct exams properly," said NSUI.

Earlier, the National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the UGC-NET June 2026 examination from June 22 to 30 across 87 subjects for awarding Junior Research Fellowships, assessing Assistant Professor eligibility, and initiating PhD programme admissions.

However, following multiple complaints regarding errors in these papers, the testing agency constituted a committee to inquire into the matter.

According to the NTA, the panel found that the question papers contained numerous factual, typographical, and translation errors, including misspelt names of prominent scholars, garbled book titles, flaws in question stem wording, grammatical mistakes, and gender/number agreement errors, alongside the repetition of a significant number of previously administered questions.

Based on the committee's recommendations, the NTA ordered a re-examination for these three subjects. As per the announced schedule, the English paper will be held on September 9 in Shift 1 (9:00 AM to 12:00 PM), Commerce on September 9 in Shift 2 (3:00 PM to 6:00 PM), and Sociology on September 10 in Shift 1 (9:00 AM to 12:00 PM). (ANI)