Why National Testing Agency is playing with career of university students?

 

 

This year, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India (GOI), established National Testing Agency (NTA) as an independent, autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organization under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has entrusted the responsibility of conducting UGC-NET to the NTA.

Interestingly, this year, the examination will be conducted as Computer Based Test (CBT), which would start from 18th December, 2018.

Now, what can be termed as a callous attitude of the NTA, the candidates have been instructed to download their admit cards from the NTA website from November 19.

The NET aspirants of Kashmir, however, were completely stunned as soon they came to know venues of the exam centers on our admit cards.

The students felt shocked and equally painful when they came to know that NTA has allocated their designated exam venues outside the state.

It was beyond the belief of the students. It speaks volumes about the insensitivity of the NTA regarding the Kashmir students.

The NET aspirants of Kashmir, however, were completely stunned as soon they came to know venues of the exam centers on our admit cards.

Before issuing admit cards, they should have consulted with the local education authorities so to get an idea as to how much difficult it if for the students to go outside the valley in winters for the exams. Add to that extra cost and the unexpected weather conditions which can block the lone Jammu- Srinagar highway anytime.

Few students who took the effort to go outside the state in Delhi, Gujrat, Punjab, West Bengal, and Harayana, narrated a woeful tale to me. They were quite shocked. They narrated me how difficult it was to travel in wintry conditions on the highway and how could they have got struck in the middle of dangerous road anytime.

They narrated the ordeal of the girls who travelled outside the state first time. How they have to face the problems in reaching out to the exam venues? How they have to coup up with the new environment and the weather?

The fact of the matter is that majority of the students preferred their exam centres at Srinagar and Baramullah while submitting their NET exam forms.

It is also important to mention here that in our state, J&K, only four centers were set up by the NTA.

In fact, it (NTA) would have set up more than four centres in the Jammu and Kashmir. It depicts the Irresponsibility of the NTA and candidly, shows that it deliberately wanted to create hurdles in the way of the examination of students.

What worries the students more is that the examination shall be held in the month of December. As we all know, during this month, the weather doesn’t remain conducive/favorable in Kashmir. Heavy snowfall and landslides also disconnect the road connectivity which can get blocked for many days.

Also, it is not possible for the students to afford air tickets worth Rupees 9,000 to Rs. 14000 to travel to other states and appear in NET exams.

In these circumstances, it is very troublesome for the students to make it to the exam centers outside the state. Thus, keeping these things into consideration, the higher authorities should take immediate cognizance of it and try to set up exam centres within the state, so that, all the students would appear in the examination and their future or career would be saved.

Otherwise, the students will leave no stone unturned to hit the streets and press their demand.

 

Arshid Aziz is a Kashmir University student

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