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“CUET is bad news for TNBSE are subsidiaries of the Union educa- TNBSE-affiliated schools as a long-
students especially from rural areas tion ministry in Delhi. On the other term solution. Comments M.J. John
who can’t afford professional coach- hand, most states including Tamil Arokia Prabhu, vice president
ing, which has now become man- Nadu publish textbooks through of the Tamil Nadu Private Schools
datory to succeed in any national their own SCERTs (State Council of Association: “The government is op-
competitive exam. When NEET was Educational Research & Training) posing entrance tests such as NEET
introduced, there was a spurt in the which although they follow NCERT’s and CUET to hide its own failure to
number of coaching centres offering National Curriculum Framework upgrade academic standards in its
prep courses. The same will happen guidelines, include considerable local public schools. It’s well-known that
now. If at all we want to bring in a content, especially in history and these schools lack infrastructure and
common entrance exam, it should social science subjects. teacher accountability, which leads
be localised, state-based rather than “Admission into Central uni- to poor student learning outcomes.
a national entrance system,” says versities is open to students from Instead of opposing every national
Prof. Nagarajan, the Tirunelveli- across the country. Then, why is entrance test, the government needs
based national secretary, All India CUET based on NCERT syllabus and to focus on improving quality of edu-
Federation of University and College textbooks? This is unjust and unfair cation, syllabus and textbooks so that
Teachers Organisation. to not just TNBSE students but also our children are equipped to succeed
Academics in the state are also students from other state board af- in national competitive exams,” says
infuriated that the CUET exam will filiated schools,” says J. Gandhiraj, Prabhu.
be based on textbooks published by chemistry professor, Vivekananda Meanwhile, the consequences of
the Delhi-based National Council College, Chennai. CUET — peremptorily announced
for Educational Research & Train- Yet while there is some substance on March 21 without debate and
ing (NCERT) to which the country’s in these arguments, a growing mi- discussion with state governments
26,054 CBSE-affiliated schools are nority of educationists in Tamil Nadu and stakeholders in education — are
wholly committed. Although official- advocate upgradation of academic becoming manifest.
ly autonomous, NCERT and CBSE standards within the state’s 37,500 Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai)

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