SHILLONG, May 13: The state government on Tuesday said all affected students of the CUET (UG) 2025 were reallotted centres in Meghalaya with the support of the National Testing Agency (NTA) after additional examination centres were identified.
Education Commissioner and Secretary, Vijay Mantri, said in a statement that the NTA manages the allotment of examination centres using an automated software system.
He said this system allocates centres based on the preferences submitted by each candidate. Each candidate is required to indicate four preferred locations, and the system assigns a centre from among these choices.
“Therefore, if a student has been allotted a centre outside Meghalaya, it is because he or she selected that location as one of the preferences. This includes cases where students have been allotted centres as far as Port Blair. The state government has no role in the individual allotment of examination centres,” Mantri stated.
He said 7,742 out of 12,685 students from Meghalaya who registered for CUET (UG) 2025 have been allotted centres within Meghalaya due to a paucity of available centres.
Informing that 4,943 candidates have been allotted centres outside Meghalaya, he said 4,654 of them have been allotted centres in Assam, while 289 candidates have been allotted centres outside both Meghalaya and Assam.
“Among these, only 93 candidates are assigned centres outside the Northeast. One student has been allotted Port Blair, based on it being his/her second choice. There are currently two city options in Meghalaya and five city options in Assam,” Mantri said.
According to him, since the system guarantees allocation from among the four preferred choices provided by each student, the students could have selected one of these seven choices to avoid going out of the region.
He said the NTA did not communicate with the state government in advance about any shortage of centres for the CUET (UG) 2025 exam, leading to the delay. He added that the matter came to light at the last moment when several students were allotted centres outside Meghalaya.
Mantri further said that as soon as the issue was brought to the attention of the state government, more than 800 additional computer nodes were swiftly identified across various institutions.
He said the NTA engaged Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the agency responsible for vetting and validating computer-based test centres. This is a necessary process that takes a few days, and the inspections of the proposed centres are currently under way.
Mantri said there is a need for additional centres, and the Education Department acknowledges the support of various schools and colleges across Meghalaya, which have offered their computer labs for the conduct of the NTA exams.
“However, a few institutions did not extend their support, leading to a shortfall in available computer-based exam centres. This must be understood that extending support to the NTA for more exam centres will greatly help the students of Meghalaya, and therefore, support of all institutions is pivotal to resolve this issue,” he said.
Mantri said the NTA is confident that all candidates scheduled to appear after May 16, who had opted for centres in Meghalaya but were allotted centres outside the state, will be re-allotted to centres within the state, subject to availability and completion of the validation process.
“In this regard, the Education Department will get confirmation tomorrow or the day after. The state government remains committed to ensuring that every student from Meghalaya gets a fair and accessible opportunity to appear for national-level exams like CUET,” he said.
He concluded that regular communication is being maintained with NTA, and further updates will be shared with the public as and when received.
Govt slammed for repeated CUET fiasco
Tura MP Saleng Sangma has criticized the state government for repeatedly failing to address the CUET centres issue, stating that the situation has resurfaced again.
Sangma questioned why poor students from Meghalaya have been forced to travel as far as Andaman & Nicobar Islands to sit for the CUET test and called for the Union Education Minister, the North East MPs’ Forum, and the Committee on Personnel, Public, Grievances, Law and Justice to address the matter.
The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee has also criticised the delay in recommending state-based testing agency for conducting the exams, claiming that the inaction is jeopardizing the academic prospects of several students.
State Congress Secretary Manuel Badwar questioned the rationale behind the lag in finalising recommendations to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for conducting exams through the National Testing Agency (NTA).
He stressed that the government already had access to enrolment data, which could have been used to anticipate and plan ahead for the entrance test process.
The Opposition Trinamool Congress has also criticized the MDA government over the recurring CUET exam centre chaos, calling it a “manufactured mess” and a failure that has now become routine.
TMC leader Richard Marak criticized the state government’s failure to ensure adequate CUET-UG exam centres within the state, highlighting the immense burden on rural and poor families.
Marak called for a dedicated task force by June 2025, arguing that the solution lies in planning, coordination, and political will rather than lip service. He believes that Meghalaya deserves better than a government that wakes up only after the damage is done.
