Double Fellowship Slot for Minorities as Two UGC NET Attempts Merged, Demand Candidates in Letter to Education Minister

Fearing that the merger of two attempts at the National Eligibility Test (NET) into one will end up offering fellowships against one session instead of two, students have written a letter to Education Minister Dharmendra Prasad to double the number of fellowship slots.

Since the number of attempts has been merged into one common exam, the number of students to be selected who were to be given fellowship should not be halved than what it would have been had there been two attempts, fear candidates.

Read | Is PhD Enough to Have Quality Professors?

All India OBC Students Association (AIOBCSA) has written a letter to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan demanding him to double the number of slots available for the UGC-Junior Research Fellowship (UGC-JRF), UGC-NET, and National Fellowship for SCs, STS, OBCs and minorities.

Students claim that if accepted, it “will help thousands of students of marginalized and poor communities to pursue higher education” especially those who depend highly on government fellowships for their education.

“Lakhs of students have appeared the examination and UGC- Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) is the main financial support for pursuing the research in the country. The UGC-NET will also help your ambitious project to fill all the OBC, SC, ST and EWS backlog positions in all Higher Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in a mission mode,” read the letter stating “UGC-NET of December 2020 and June 2021 cycles” and “common examination” for two sessions as their primary reason.

After being postponed several times the UGC NET December 2020 and June 2021 exams were held together from November 20 to January 5. UGC NET is an eligibility exam. Those who clear the test are considered eligible to apply for the post of assistant professor. Selected top candidates are eligible to avail of the Junior Research Fellowship awards.

Meanwhile, the UGC NET answer key has been released and for the CSIR NET exam intimation slip has been released and admit card will be issued soon.

Read all the Latest Education News here