Multiple student organisations held protests outside the National Testing Agency (NTA) office in Delhi on Monday, demanding that the agency be scrapped amid irregularities in the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) examination held in June.

On Sunday, the NTA said that it would re-conduct the UGC-NET examination in English, sociology and commerce after finding that the papers had “defects”, which “do not meet the standards of fairness and error-free examination”. The decision followed multiple complaints from candidates about errors in the question papers.

While the English and commerce re-examinations will be held on September 9, the sociology re-examination will be conducted on September 10, the NTA said.

However, the student organisations argued that the re-examination would cause mental and financial distress to students.

The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) were among those present at the protest.

“Students cannot be made to pay the price for NTA’s failures. We demand that NTA be scrapped and its chairman resign. We will continue this fight until NTA is banned and students receive justice,” NSUI president Vinod Jakher said.

AISA echoed similar concerns. A statement read, “The decision has compounded the crisis for students. Delayed NET results have already affected Ph.D. admissions across universities in the country, while students are now being forced to prepare for re-examinations with barely two weeks of effective preparation time.”

It added that students were being made to pay the price for an examination system that was “dishonest and opaque with no scope for democratic accountability”.

In a statement, the SFI said the re-examination would place an additional mental and financial burden on students, who had already spent time and money preparing for and appearing for the examination, and would leave them facing uncertainty.

Several schools remained shut on Friday following the bandh call given by Left student organisations, demanding resolution of several issues in the education sector. The bandh call included the chalo collectorate and laying siege to ministers’ residential complexes in the city.

A combine of SFI, AISF, PDSU, AIDSO, AIFDS, AISB and AIPSU, students participated in protests across the State, alleging that the Congress government’s policies have pushed the education sector into a deep crisis.

In Hyderabad, a scuffle broke out after police stopped the march to ministers’ residences. Student leaders alleged that several protesters were assaulted and detained in the process. The student organisations criticised the government for delaying scholarship and fee reimbursement dues, failing to regulate private school fees, and neglecting government schools.

They also opposed the proposed restructuring of schools under the ‘Young India Schools’ and ‘International Schools’initiatives of the government. The unions demanded immediate recruitment of teachers, improved infrastructure and timely supply of educational materials, and warned of a larger united agitation if the demands remain unmet.