The University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to extend the dates for the National Eligibility Test (NET) for the December 2021 and June 2022 cycles till May 30. Though UGC has not released any official notice regarding the extension, Chairman of UGC Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar had tweeted about it on May 22.
“In pursuant to representations from the candidates, regarding submission of online application form for UGC-NET December 2021 and June 2022 (merged cycles), it has been decided to extend the last date for submission and fee payment to 30 May 2022,” a tweet by him read.
The move comes after many NET aspirants complained that the UGC website was having glitches and they were facing problems in completing the application process. Earlier, the last date to apply for UGC-NET was May 20. And on May 21, the portal was open for making corrections to the application form.
“I personally haven’t faced any problem, but I know that many students are having issues with the application form,” said Subhranshu Mishra, a NET applicant. “I filled up the form on May 15. I had to try four times before I could complete the application process,” stated Baishali Padhy, another NET aspirant. Some aspirants have also taken the issue to Twitter and urged the authorities to look into the matter and help them out. “#OpenWindow_UGCNET The server is not submitting my option in the ‘Apply For’ item when I was correcting my form, due to which I’m unable to proceed further to make the payment,” read a tweet from an account (@ImMusaEnchantix) who's Twitter bio mentioned that she is a PhD scholar. “It is a genuine issue and my career is at stake due to it,” she had added. The tweet was accompanied by images of the glitches appearing on the aspirant’s computer screen. “#UGCNET_form_filling_date Due to heavy traffic in the last two days, many students have been unable to fill the form. So PLEASE extend/open for 1 more day," read a tweet from Sandeep Shah (Sandeep54341172), a person from Maharashtra.
“Why should students be punished for technical faults? Extend the date of UGC-NET,” another tweet from Sumit Yadav (@Sumit87310327), an RSS member from the Benaras Hindu University reads, demanding an extension. Meanwhile, TNIE has reported that another aspirant, M Subbba has stated that the students were especially facing issues while uploading their documents in the application form. “Though we submitted the documents in the prescribed format, we received a message saying that the attached file is not in the prescribed format,” M Subba said, as stated in a TNIE report. She also mentioned that she had tried contacting the authorities over the phone and via Twitter but had not received any reply from them.
“Your Apply For details step has not been submitted. Please Try Again” and “The server is under construction” are a few examples of the glitches that the NET aspirants have been facing and these are the messages that turn up on their screens while applying for the exam. Keeping these issues in view, Chairman Kumar had shared the information regarding the extension of the deadline for the online application.
The UGC-NET is held twice every year to determine the eligibility of candidates for the posts of assistant professors and junior research fellows in universities and colleges. It is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). In April 2022, UGC announced that the June 2022 exam will be a merged cycle for December 2021 and June 2022. The December 2021 exam could not be held because of COVID-19. Though the UGC is yet to announce the date of the exam, it has been declared that the test will be held in two shifts, from 9 am to 12 noon and another from 3 pm to 6 pm. The exam will most probably be held in Computer Based Test (CBT) mode.
