UGC ends uncertainty over NET, says CBSE to conduct exam

Ending uncertainty over the National Eligibility Test (NET), the University Grants Commission has decided that the CBSE will continue to conduct the exam even as the board had earlier expressed inability to do so.
The NET is held twice a year--July and December--for the grant of junior research fellowship and eligibility for assistant professorship in universities and colleges.
Qualification in NET is also a must for recruitment of teachers at colleges and universities.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had last year approached the HRD Ministry expressing its inability to conduct the exam due to capacity crunch as it was overburdened with other tests such as the JEE-MAIN and NEET for under- graduate engineering and medical courses.

While the Ministry had not issued any guidelines in this regard, the CBSE has not yet issued a notification for the exam scheduled in July, which is usually out by April first week every year.
Scores of students had protested outside the UGC last week demanding that the uncertainty over the exam be cleared and a notification be issued.

"The CBSE had approached the HRD Ministry expressing their inability. We recently had a meeting with HRD officials over the issue and it was decided that the board will conduct the exam in July without causing any delays," a senior UGC official said on the condition of anonymity.

"The arrangement is likely to continue till the proposed National Testing Service (NTS) for conduct of all exams is set up by the government," he said.
The NET was conducted by the UGC till 2014 following which it was handed over to the CBSE.