CUCET amid pandemic
Ankit Kapoor
Pertaining to the fact that scoring high in board exams may not necessarily translate into knowledge, top universities across the globe prefer to conduct entrance exams as the sole criteria or a mix of entrance and merit for admissions.
While it was announced that CLAT will conduct the exam for the academic session 2022 and 2023 in 2022 itself, the Government of India suggested to conduct a common exam for admissions to all the central universities.
Being one of the major reforms introduced to the Indian Education system in the recent times, the Central Universities common entrance test (CUCET) is an All-India test for admission various Under-graduate/Integrated, Post-Graduate and research programs in Central/State Universities of India. Having a major change in this academic year, CUCET has been named the common entrance test for admissions to 41 central universities including JNU, DU and BHU.
The current situation of the ongoing pandemic has not only created an ambiguous situation for the students but also for the institutions across India. While the families are worried about the spread of infection, students are muddled about the current change in the admission criteria at the undergraduate level in different universities. The pressure is mounting and with every passing day, the students are getting restless.
While the entrance exams ensure a level playing field for the candidates, it also implies an equal opportunity for all, to gauge the capabilities of the individual. Since the current problem is not only faced by the students who are in anticipation of the exam, but also for the universities across, who are indecisive on the structure of their admission process.
Though it is known that CUCET is not an entirely unfamiliar entrance test but the central universities have been conducting it until the last year for admissions. While the major difference would be that the earlier version of CUCET were conducted in the offline mode and now the proposal is to conduct the test as a Computer Based Test (CBT), which, with complete details of the exam is expected to be revealed soon.
The possible structure of CUCET would be a computer-based aptitude test to test the students on Verbal Ability, Logical and Analytical Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and General Awareness. There will be a domain section also that may test the students of the subjective questions. The CUCET entrance test will be compulsory for the students who seek admission to all the universities.
It is anticipated that the CUCET will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Recently, Delhi University has also hinted to conduct the admission process for the Academic year 2022 through CUCET and based on class XII marks, or will conduct their separate exam DUCET.
The students should neither be skeptical about the paper nor about the process, instead believe that this change of conducting one exam is the change for good and will allow students to experience equal opportunity in the real sense. For this, students need to continuously strive towards honing their skills and understand the importance of aptitude building. The entrance exam like the CUCET will give not only an equal opportunity to all the students but also a chance to the universities to gauge the aptitude level of the students.
Recently, the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University also informed that the concerned team is working on this new development and when the basic things are done, a committee would be formed which will be in charge of framing a process on the execution, and coordinate with NTA and Education ministry. Experts believe that it’s a welcome decision of Delhi University and other universities to change the admission process as entrance exam is always a better medium to assess the students’ knowledge.
(The author is co-founder and director, Pratham Test Prep)
