Government Asks CAT Conveyor For Failure of CAT Online Exam

Swinging into action, government on Monday sought a report from the convener of Common Admission Test (CAT) on the ongoing disruption of the computer-based entrance test for admission into IIMs.

The HRD Ministry shot off a letter to Deodhar, asking him to submit a factual report on the whole issue of disruption in the test, which is being conducted by an American firm Prometric, a ministry official said.

Due to "virus attack" in the computers, nearly 4,000 students could not appear in the test during the first two days of the 10-day long staggered entrance that started on Saturday.

Scores of students were unable to appear in the test at several centres on Monday also as technical glitches continued to disrupt the exam. Candidates could not appear in the test at a few centres in Mumbai, Bangalore and Ghaziabad owing to malfunctioning of computers at these places.

About 2.41 lakh students are scheduled to appear in the test for admission into seven IIMs and a few other B-Schools.

The American firm Prometric has been awarded a $40 million contract by the Indian Institutes of Management to computerise the prestigious CAT.

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad director Samir Barua said the main hindrance for the smooth conduct of the first ever computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) is virus attacks.

"The major reason (for hindrance on the computer-based test) appears to be virus attacks. Though all precautions had been taken to ensure that our computer labs are insulated of such attack, even then there is always the possibility of virus attacks," Barua told reporters here.

Barua assured the students, who have failed to take the test, that they would be able to give the test after it is rescheduled.

The computer-based test has been marred by technical glitches from the very first day on Saturday. Students faced problems in opening the computers at the exam centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Bhopal.

On the second day too, hundreds of students were unable to appear in the test as repairs were being carried out at nearly 50 labs in 24 centres where computers suffered virus attack.

"In some of the case the problem was of hardware," Barua said.

Report By TOI