You had to wait hours at a number of centres for the 2026 CUET-UG to get under way on May 30. It’s no wonder students are fretting about whether they’ll be given a fair shot at getting in. Rahul Gandhi has been quick to point a finger at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has run the education system into the ground. Now you have the issue of exam integrity running up against university timetables, and it is muddying the waters for lakhs of students as they make their travel and course plans.
Why the CUET delay matters now
This is the exam that opens the door to undergraduate seats in central, state and other universities. When things don’t go to plan, it has a way of snowballing. You see it in the admission calendar, in the scramble for hostels and with fee deadlines, and it is the students from smaller towns who feel it most.
The National Testing Agency puts it down to a technical problem with its tech partner, TCS, which held up the start at a few places. They say it is behind us now, that everyone has been made whole with extra time and new schedules have been put in place for any sessions that were hit.
But if you were in some of these cities, you saw the lines. Some on the opposition side are making the case that even with the added time, a staggered start is a problem if the question papers are in the hands of different candidates at different times.
Rahul Gandhi’s charge and political response
Gandhi is painting this as a trend you can see in CBSE, SSC, NEET and now here. In no uncertain terms, he has said a crore of students have been put through this and that the government can’t seem to pull off one exam right.
He was having none of the ‘vishwaguru’ talk from the top, arguing that for all the claims, they can’t manage an exam in their own country. The whole system is broken, he says, and the generation whose prospects are being chipped away will make them pay for it.
As far back as May 29, he was after the PM for not saying a word on the CBSE fiasco or doing anything about the education minister, calling it out as putting politics before the future of these kids. He’d been at it with NEET aspirants too, putting out a video of his time with them when the paper leak story broke.
You hear the same kind of thing from others in the opposition. Arvind Kejriwal has it in for the government’s love of a good show instead of dealing with what is really wrong. Atishi has called it plain incompetence once the notices were put up. And there are party people worried about what uneven timings do to the security of the paper.
What the NTA has said
They’ve owned up to the trouble and are sorry for the hassle. They say it was a partner-side issue, they have fixed it and no one will be put at a disadvantage with the time they’ve given back. There is also a helpline for anyone who needs it.
To be clear, the agency has put forward the following:
– The glitch came from the technology side
– We have put it right before the sessions were done
– Compensatory time has been given in full
– Where we have to, we have issued new schedules
– Support is available via the helpline
Broader exam context
It has been a rough year. First you had the NEET-UG with its leak and irregularity claims, and the courts and protests that followed. Then there were the grumblings over CBSE and how they handle OMRs. Even the Staff Selection Commission has been in the hot seat for its recruitment hiccups.
When CUET-UG was put in place in 2022, the idea was to have a level playing field and take some of the subjectivity out of university admissions. These days it is one of the big ones in India, so it has to be delivered without a hitch for the families and the institutions involved.
Impact on students and universities
For the student, it means your head is in the game one minute and then you are dealing with stress and the cost of an extra trip. If you have a hostel to book or a train to catch, a late start can put a dent in your finances and your studies.
Universities are working to a clock to put out merit lists and do their counselling. If you keep having to put the brakes on, it is hard to get a new cohort in the door without a fight.
We will have to see if the new CUET timetable holds and if the NTA can put some faith back in the process. With the opposition on to them and so much riding on these admissions, they will need to be open about it to put minds at ease and keep the year on course.
