Technical glitches hit India exam centres

New Delhi (IANS) The highly competitive Common Admission Test (CAT), which went online for the first time this year, was once again hit Sunday by technical problems and poor management affecting students in as many as 49 test centres in 14 cities across the country.

The exam, which determines admission to the country's prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and many other B-schools, is being held in a staggered online format for the first time. Sunday was day two of the 10-day schedule.

From day one on Saturday, technical glitches and computers crashing affected the exams from being conducted in many centres across the country.

Sunday, while the organisers posted an update on their website announcing the rescheduling of the exam in 49 centres across India, there was no direct communication, either through mail or SMS to the students.

In a number of cases students had reached their test centres and sat for the exam when they were told to go home.

"There was utter confusion. Some of our students called and told me they had no idea about the exam being rescheduled on Sunday," Gautam Puri, vice-chairman of Career Launcher, a CAT coaching institute, said.

The reason for the rescheduling, as posted on the CAT-IIM website was "repairs" in those computer labs where the glitches had taken place.