NTA and CBSE have a lot to answer for. Their test systems have evidently failed, risking Indian youngsters’ futures
The fiasco of CUET-UG 2026 (university entrance exams) is yet another alarming demonstration of NTA and CBSE’s stunning institutional failure. Let’s count the ways: repeated paper leaks, administrative chaos, leadership vacuum at NTA, ‘technical glitches’, embarrassing attempts at cover-ups, poor communication, and a breathtaking indifference to millions of students, whose futures hang in balance.
CUET-UG 2026 suffered a so-called technical glitch. Exam was delayed by hours. Several could not finish the test. For these kids, and those who left exam centres once the glitch happened (because it is so centralised, no one knows what’s going on, and hearsay replaces official communication), there will be a re-test. How glibly authorities tell us, kids will have an “opportunity” to write the test again. How cruel. Do they have no idea the toll such an unending cycle of exams has?
NTA and CBSE have become symbols of ineptitude in their rushed drive to centralise and go digital. Instead of transitioning to digitised formats only after investments are complete, systems secure and fail-safe, and emergency response teams adequate, both NTA and CBSE scramble for damage control after every debacle. Each year, at NTA, reaction is episodic. Who is to blame, for the gap in oversight, during the implementation of security protocols, incorporated after NEET-UG 2024’s leak? Paper-leak mafia appears to be getting the better of the Centre. Why did CBSE transition to onscreen marking before its scanning infra was in place? Inexcusable. It shows a jugaad approach, cutting corners. Who will investigate why exam bodies are failing to build systems that actually work? As each vulnerability is probed, the solution should not be to simply shuffle bureaucrats. This is not an operational or logistics nightmare, but a policy and design failure.
Debate that once centred on the best measure of merit, now revolves around incompetency of the system that funnels children’s futures, and is corroding merit. Those entrusted with these responsibilities must understand: students sacrifice the better part of their childhood to prepare for these soul-destroying board and entrance exams. Some smart 17- and 19-year-olds have exposed several vulnerabilities that CBSE has conceded were system flaws. Yet, these youngsters are themselves hostage to entrance exams, run by NTA and CBSE. It is a depressing betrayal of an entire generation of students, if the very bodies conducting exams cannot be trusted to hold them fairly.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6qwTrTdLOs0
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Views expressed above are the author's own.
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