The Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG 2022 fourth phase was cancelled on Wednesday across 13 exam centres due to “unavoidable technical glitches”. As many as 8693 students were affected, officials said. “Due to some unavoidable technical reasons, examination scheduled for today was cancelled in 13 centres in Shift 1 and Shift 2. A total of 8,693 candidates were affected out of 1.45 lakh candidates. All the affected candidates will get a chance for a retest on August 25,” UGC chairman Jagadesh Kumar said.

Out of the 13 centres where exams were cancelled, as many as eight are in Delhi, two in Varanasi including the centre at IIT BHU, and one each in Bihar, Gaya and Faridabad. Students from several centres including Guru Hargobind Institute of Management and Information Technology in Delhi, Asia Pacific Institute in Jasola (Delhi) AIS Assessment Zone, Aakash International Senior Secondary School in Delhi’s Nangloi and Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies in Pitampura, said they were told the exam has been cancelled due to technical glitches and server problems.

Some students also claimed that their exam started at least two hours late than the scheduled time. Devyani, who had travelled to Pitampura for her the exam, said, “We waited for two hours for the exam to begin in the first shift. Some of the students were also sent back citing technical glitches.” While another student, who did not wish to be identified said, “I was a total mess. Fourth phase is being conducted and the exam cancellations are still going on. Such an experiment with our careers and academic lives.”

A total of 3.6 lakh candidates have been registered to appear in phase 4 of CUET 2022, which is scheduled to be held from August 17-20. For an additional 11,000 candidates, who were set to appear in the fourth phase, their exams were cancelled earlier and later postponed to August 30 to accommodate their choice of city for centre, officials said. “The NTA has increased the capacity at centres and also added more exam centres, besides making efforts to ensure the quality of the centres is enhanced,” the UGC chairman said.

Read: CUET-UG 2022: Exams postponed, NTA to issue new admit cards