In what could be a sigh of relief, the Supreme Court (SC) has agreed to urgently hear a petition alleging technical glitches during the Indian Institute of Technology - Joint Entrance Examination Mains (IIT-JEE) exam 2022. Student activists and associations have been demanding an extra attempt at the exam citing irregularities during the exam.
According to a report by LiveLaw, the counsel has sought urgent listing of the petition saying IIT JEE Advanced is scheduled to take place on August 28. This comes after the SC on July 29, ordered the National Testing Agency (NTA) to allow 15 students to participate in the additional session of the JEE Main 2022 which was held on July 30, who had experienced technical difficulties in the first session.
What happened during the JEE Mains exam?
Session I of the exam was held from June 23 to June 29, whereas, the second session was held from July 25 to July 30. Multiple students who attempted the exam faced problems like technical glitches, change of exam centres at the very last minute and discrepancies in the answer key.
During the first attempt at the JEE Mains 2022 exam, several students were allotted centres that weren’t chosen by them in the first place. Vaibhav Dinkar, from the All India Students’ Union (AISU) had earlier informed EdexLive that there were technical glitches during the exam as well. For example, screens were frozen for around 15 to 30 minutes and extra time was not granted to these students. In some cases, the timer wasn’t visible on students’ screens.
However, he added that these problems weren’t just limited to the first attempt at the exam — it was prevalent even during the second attempt. Students and parents have also claimed that the response sheets released by NTA were wrong and not the same as that of their students.
The answer key and response sheet did not match with the actual questions attempted by the students at the exam centres, they said. Some of them also cited a delay in the release of their admit cards. Due to this, those whose exam centres were located far away claimed that they could not reach the designated exam centres on time.
Candidates have also alleged discrepancies in their scores, with good marks inviting less percentile. Some have even stated that because of these discrepancies they have been now rendered ineligible to apply for JEE Advanced.
