AISA demands UGC to issue forms for NET exam due for July this year

The members of All India Students Association (AISA) on Monday staged a protest and demanded the University Grants Commission to immediately issue application forms for the National Eligibility Test due this July.

Fearing cancellation of the test, a delegation of students today staged a demonstration at the UGC and submitted a memorandum.

“We have learnt that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has expressed its inability to conduct NET this July. The UGC has also remained mute. The move cannot be seen in isolation but as part of recent attacks on research and higher education in the country,” said a statement issued by AISA, the student wing of the CPI(M-L).

The CBSE’s move comes after massive seat cuts in M.Phil/ Ph.D in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Both the policies will make research an exclusive area for the rich in the country, it added.

AISA national general secretary, Sandeep Saurav said “Such moves are not isolated and it is going on in various universities ranging from Punjab University to Benaras Hindu University (BHU). Such moves will be resisted.”

The CBSE took over conduct of NET from the UGC in 2014. Over 5 lakh candidates take the exam every year.