Page 68 - EducationWorld August 2022

Special Report

Su dha A c hary a, chairperson of the
Delhi-based National Progressive
Schools’ Conference (NPSC) which has
a membership of 400 private CBSE
schools.
A CCORDING TO ACHARYA,

the hurried introduction
of CUET without debate
and deliberation with
experienced educationists and educa-
tors, has dealt a body blow to the for-
mal K-12 school system and will prove
a bonanza for drill-and-skill coaching
schools that prepare students for pub-
lic exams. In particular, binning class
XII board exam marks means that
henceforth for admission into Central Acharya: opposite impact Bhatt: level playing field
universities, high scores in the board
exams have become irrelevant. exam boards that prescribe less rig- 100 percent cut-offs for specific study
“By not according any weightage orous syllabuses than the pan-India programmes.
to the class XII board exam scores, CBSE (Central Board of Secondary “CUET levels the playing field for
CUET has severely devalued the high Education) and CISCE (Council for students across the country. Previ-
school education system. With CUET Indian School Certificate Examina- ously, because of wide divergence in
scores being the be all and end all for tion). Moreover, they are known to be marking practices of state examina-
college admissions, higher secondary too liberal in awarding marks/scores tion boards, their students received
students may well abandon schools resulting in runaway grades inflation unwarranted high scores giving them
and flock to coaching centres to prep countrywide. advantage in college admissions. Now
for CUET. Therefore to maintain the With millions of school-leavers av- all class XII students will write one
relevance of senior secondary educa- eraging 95 percent-plus, students of common entrance examination. CUET
tion, NPSC recommends that NTA several state boards such as UP and will also put an end to the practice of
awards 50 percent weightage to class Bihar, notorious for exam malprac- top ranked colleges stipulating ab-
XII board exam scores when calculat- tices, were widely perceived to be get- surdly high admission cut-offs. That’s
ing CUET rank,” says Acharya, also ting unfair advantage in undergradu- why in its very first year, not only all
principal of the CBSE-affiliated ITL ate admissions. With all exam boards Central universities but also many
Public School, Dwarka, Delhi. joining the grades inflation party, state and private varsities have agreed
Although the hasty introduction the country’s 39,931 undergraduate to accept CUET scores for admission
of CUET has endangered the formal colleges — which are obliged to give into their undergrad programmes,”
higher-secondary school system, the equal weightage to certification of all says P rof . G e e t a B hat t , director of
multiplicity of India’s 35 school ex- examination boards — and in particu- the Non-Collegiate Women’s Educa-
amination boards with differing syl- lar top-ranked colleges of Delhi Uni- tion Board, Delhi University.
labuses and assessment criteria ne- versity began specifying incrementally Yet even if the argument that CUET
cessitated a common entrance exam higher percentages as admission cut- levels the playing field for all class XII
for undergrad admissions. Over the offs. To the extent that some colleges school-leavers is accepted, some crit-
past decade in particular, there’s been such as the Shri Ram College of Com- ics argue that it provides an unfair
mounting criticism of several state merce and Miranda House stipulated advantage to students of the coun-

Top 3 undergrad entrance exams CUET data sheet 54,555
1.49 million student No. of subject
No. of student registrations registrations combinations
NEET 1.8 million
CUET 1.49 million
IIT-JEE 0.9 million 554 cities For admission into
90 universities

68 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2022