National Testing Agency To Postpone UGC-Net For 2020 Cycle Due To COVID-19 Surge

The UGC-Net December 2020 cycle exams have been postponed, National Testing Agency said on Tuesday. The said exams were earlier scheduled to take place from May 2 to May 17.

Earlier the exams were supposed to be conducted in December last year but were postpones multiple times due to the COVID-19 situation in the country.

In an official notice, NTA stated, "Looking at the present situation of COVID-19 pandemic and taking into account safety and well-being of candidates and examination functionaries, it has been decided to postpone the UGC NET 2020 cycle (May 2021) examination."

The rescheduled dates for UGC-Net 2021 have not yet been announced, they will be revealed after the assessment of the pandemic. As per the testing agency, the dates will be announced 15 days prior to the exams.

The Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said on Tuesday that he has advised the National Testing Agency (NTA) to postpone the UGC-Net December 2020 cycle exams.

Education Minister said, " Keeping in mind the safety & well-being of candidates and exam functionaries during COVID19, I have advised National Testing Agency to postpone the UGC-NET Dec 2020 cycle (May 2021) exams."

Keeping in mind the safety & well-being of candidates and exam functionaries during COVID19, I have advised National Testing Agency to postpone the UGC-NET Dec 2020 cycle (May 2021) exams: Education Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank

(file pic) pic.twitter.com/Lc6Qsx0TcM

— ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2021

What are UGC-Net exams?

The UGC-NET examination is conducted twice a year and is a computer-based test for candidates who wish to secure a job as an assistant professor and junior research fellow. In 2020, the first cycle was scheduled for June 2020 but was later postponed to September, November because of the pandemic situation in the country. The second cycle exams initially announced for December 2020 were also postponed till May 2021.

More on exams being postponed and cancelled in India:

Since the COVID-19 situation started to worsen again in India in the year 2021, many school board exams have been postponed. These include Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) and Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), and IB. These boards while postponed exams for class 12 students, exams for Class 10 students have been cancelled. Many state boards such as UP, Odisha, Gujarat have also taken similar steps. Read more here.