The National Testing Agency (NTA) has decided to re-conduct the UGC-NET exams for June 2026 in three disciplines: English language, Commerce, and Sociology. This decision was made after errors were found in the test questions.
According to the information, this step was taken upon the recommendation of a special NTA committee. Furthermore, candidates participating in the re-examination will not have to pay any additional fees.
Following the UGC-NET incident, the National Testing Agency (NTA) began conducting 'surgery' after a series of violations and leaks of examination materials. Immediately after the cancellation of exams in three subjects, UGC-NET, the Ministry of Education decided to completely restructure the administrative and technical structure of NTA.
As a result of a high-level meeting held by the Minister of Education, Prakash Joshi, more than 50 NTA employees and officials were dismissed. Simultaneously, to strengthen the agency's confidential operations, vacancies were announced for 10 new senior positions, which will be filled by private sector experts.
More than 50 NTA staff members were let go due to deficiencies in security provision, exam administration, and confidentiality compliance. To make the agency more technological and secure, experts from relevant fields are being brought in for 10 new positions, including Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), General Manager of Test Security, and General Manager of R&D and Psychometrics.
Private sector experts will be engaged to ensure cybersecurity, develop test questions (Question-Paper Design), and handle psychometrics. Instructions were given for the emergency update of Confidential Operations Protocols (CONOPS), Secluded Rooms, Air-gapped Systems, and device storage protocols. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education instructed NTA to conduct a comprehensive audit of all examination processes and submit a detailed report with corrective measures.
This major administrative overhaul occurred immediately after the decision was made to cancel and re-conduct exams in English, Commerce, and Sociology in June 2026 as part of UGC-NET. Serious translation errors, copying of questions from old exams, and incorrect spelling of thinkers' names were discovered in these three subjects. Following allegations of material leaks in NEET-UG 2026 and doubts about the reliability of the three major UGC-NET subjects, the Ministry of Education stated that any negligence in the examination system is now unacceptable.
NTA published the preliminary answer keys and answer sheets for the CSIR-UGC NET examination for June 2026 on August 16.
Participants can log into the official CSIR-NET portal to view and download their answer sheets and keys.
Candidates who disagree with any answer have the opportunity to file an appeal within the specified period—from August 16 to August 18 until 23:00. A fee of 200 rupees must be paid for each objection.
