New Delhi, December 02: The government on Tuesday expressed concern over ongoing disruption of the computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) and said precautions should have been taken much before to avoid such problems.
“Steps should have been taken much prior to the holding of the examination to ensure that such kind of problems should not have happened. We are very concerned about it as government,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters here.
He said the government had sought a factual report from the IIMs on the issue and the report has been received by the ministry this morning.
He said a total 8,297 examinees were affected out of 45,367 candidates so far. The students have been disturbed owing to the technical problems in the computer-based test conducted by an American firm Prometric.
“This is a very large percentage,” he said.
The ministry is not involved in the conduct of the exam. The autonomy of the IIMs allow them to hold the test.
“We will only request them to make sure that such things do not happen next time and they conduct an inquiry into it,” he said.
The issue also figured in the Parliament debate when Deputy leader of BJP Sushma Swaraj said the development was a shock for several talented students who had come all prepared to face the examination. “Mouse has eaten the CAT,” she said.
Sibal said the decision to hold the exam through computers was taken by the IIMs.
“We are not interfering. Whether the exam will be online, what will be the mode, who will be the agent to take responsibility, when to hold the exam — these are decisions taken by the IIMs, not by us,” he said.
Asked about the future date for the affected students, Sibal clarified that IIMs have to decided on it.
Due to “virus attack” in the computers, the students could not appear in the test during the first three days of the 10-day long entrance that started on Saturday.
About 2.41 lakh students are scheduled to appear in the test for admission into seven IIMs and a few other B-Schools.
–Agencies