The new exam normal

The CUET-UG technical-glitch fiasco is one mishap too many. In the last two years, India’s examination ecosystem has produced a trifecta of institutional failures: the NEET-UG paper leak, which compromised meritocracy at its roots; the CBSE OSM debacle, which resulted in a seven-year low in pass percentages; and now a technical breakdown that sent over 3,700 biometrically registered candidates home without taking the examination. Collectively, these constitute a pattern rather than a series of isolated incidents.

When failure and breakdown become the norm rather than the exception, they cease to be merely operational problems and become a credibility crisis. Institutional trust, once eroded, is not easily rebuilt. India’s students, navigating an already brutal competitive landscape, deserve systems as resilient as the effort they invest. Students are the country’s future; they must not be left marooned in the choppy waters of an examination system that has become its own Bermuda Triangle.

Nishat,

New Delhi

India’s education policy cannot become a laboratory for poorly implemented digital experiments. Careers and mental health are at stake. The Education Minister must restore credibility in examinations.

Harsh Pawaria,

Rohtak, Haryana