Page 66 - EducationWorld August 2022

Special Report

REPAIRING CUET

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Mandated without adequate debate and preparation in the trademark
style of the BJP/NDA government, the inaugural Common University
Entrance Test (CUET) 2022 — promulgated as the sole exam for
admission into undergraduate programmes of the country’s 45 Central
universities — has made a disastrous debut

Summiya Yasmeen

M ANDATED WITHOUT adequate which conducts CUET, of mismanagement and bungling.

debate and preparation in the
It’s important to note that although mishandling of the
inaugural CUET has made headline news, this common
trademark style of the BJP/
entrance test is for admission into 45 Central government
NDA government now mid-
varsities that constitute a small fraction (4.2 percent) of the
way through its second term
in office at the Centre, the in-
augural Common University
pricey private (39.7 percent) and low-ranked state govern-
Entrance Test (CUET) 2022 country’s 1,055 universities. The remainder are relatively
ment varsities. Therefore, well-funded Central government
— promulgated on March 21 higher education institutions with superior infrastructure,
as the sole pan-India exam for admission into undergradu- high-quality faculty, well-maintained campuses and rock-
ate programmes of the country’s 45 Central universities — bottom tuition and residence fees are the first choice of ev-
has made a disastrous debut. ery higher-secondary student who has swotted for class XII
The first phase of the exam held on July 15-20 in 554 school-leaving exams. And of the 45 Central universities,
cities countrywide was marked by chaos and confusion. the most prized is Delhi University, particularly its routine-
The initial batch of 800,000 class XII students who wrote ly top-ranked undergrad colleges — St. Stephen’s, Miranda
the new common exam for entry into top-ranked, low fees House, Sri Ram College of Commerce, among others.
universities established and managed by the Central gov- The intentions and objectives behind introduction of
ernment, experienced high stress and anxiety. Delay in is- CUET are noble. It is the response of the University Grants
suance of admit cards and last minute switches of exam cen- Commission (UGC) — the apex level body which supervises
tres resulted in thousands of students reporting at wrong and administers higher education countrywide — to the
centres where they were not admitted. Angry students and stress experienced by class XII students hitherto obliged to
parents staged protests outside several exam centres in write multiple entrance exams, and popular colleges notify-
Delhi NCR, accusing the National Testing Agency (NTA), ing sky-high cut-off percentages for admission into some

66 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2022