Govt seeks report from CAT convener on disruption in test

Updated on: Wednesday, December 02, 2009

New Delhi: Govt sought a report from the Convener of CAT,Satish Deodhar on the ongoing disruption of computer-based entrance test for admission into IIMs.

The glitches disrupted the CAT at a few centres in Mumbai, Bangalore and Ghaziabad. The situation was worse at a lab in IMS, Ghaziabad, where students protested for not being able to appear in the test.

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 entrance that started on Saturday. The HRD Ministry today sought a report from the Convener of CAT Satish Deodhar on the disruption of the CAT test being conducted by American firm Prometric for nearly 2.41 lakh candidates for admission into IIMs and a few other
B-Schools.

'All efforts would be made to accommodate all the candidates within the testing period. The spare facility at the test centre would used. If there is need, the exam could be extended beyond the test period as required,' IIM Ahmedabad Director Samir Barua said.

The major reason for the disruption appears to be the virus attacks, Barua said.

The IIM authorities had a meeting with representatives of Prometric, the American firm conducting the test, earlier in the day. The IIM authorities have told the Prometric that they should provide enough support system at the examination centre if there is something wrong with the computer and strengthen the quarantine system to check any virus attack in future.

'We have told them that when the students face any problem, they get agitated. There has to be enough support system to make them feel ease and sort out their problems,' Barua said. The Prometric will have to engage competent people to deal with such situation, he said.

The IIMs and Prometic will institute a thorough probe into the disruption, he said. 'We will find out what went wrong. We want to have robust system in place,' he said. The IIMs issued a statement saying a decision to conduct computerised CAT was taken unanimously by all IIMs.

'IIMs were responsible for generating questions for the tests and Prometric was responsible for conducting the test. The delivery could not be executed flawlessly because of virus attack at several test sites. Prometric is working to address the issues arising from the attacks,' it said.

Govt seeks report from CAT convener on disruption in test

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