The Implementation Of CUET: Advantages And Disadvantages

Its not a novel concept to have the Central Universities Entrance Test (CUET). 1,500 seats in undergraduate, graduate, and integrated courses at seven major institutions were up for admission when it was first held in 2010. Twelve Central Universities have already begun accepting applications through CUET for the academic year 2021–2022, including Assam University, University of Karnataka, University of Kerala, and University of Haryana. The CUET test is administered by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The Central University Common Entrance Test is in its eleventh year. Although it has been in use since 2010, only 14 core universities have chosen to use it. Now, CUCET is being expanded to several other universities.

It looks like CUET unlocked the proverbial Pandora’s Box. Education experts are passionately debating its benefits and drawbacks.

Arguments in favour of this idea claim that a single entrance exam for all colleges will stop ever-rising cut-offs (like those at DU) and instead put an emphasis on developing students’ critical thinking skills rather than memorization. There is always some type of discrimination based on a student’s 12th grade marks because different boards do not issue marks consistently, which denies applicants to all top universities equal opportunity. CUET will also take into account applicants from various boards.

It is believed that the economically and socially deprived students will be left behind and will not get more chances to get into top-tier universities. This is because they won’t be able to go to coaching centers to clear the exams in contrast to the upper or middle class students. Also, in a country like India, people will not invest much in a girl child. The best-coached students will have more chance than the deprived ones. CUCET cannot function in the current scenario of underfunding and lack of resources and comprehensive evaluations. In a scenario where entrance exams take months to complete the admission process it keeps the students in lurch for long. Professors of some of the top universities believe that the proposal to have a common entrance test is an affront to the autonomy of universities.

CUET philosophy emphasizes on two things: appraisal of holistic knowledge of students and how good students are in the subject opted for. Simply put, cut-offs are not supposed to affect the chances of selection to courses. This promises to provide students equal opportunity in their academic pursuits. The idea is that students good in any particular subject should be able to pursue education in that stream, and average performance in other subjects shouldn’t barricade entry into their desired courses and colleges. However, a number of academicians believe that students will now be more likely to pay attention to CUET and organisations offering entrance exam preparation coaching, and that they may overlook classroom instruction in schools, which builds the groundwork for academic concepts across topics.

It remains to be seen if the CUET will becomes the gold standard of college admissions in India and whether the nodal body is able to plug all the holes in this Trojan Horse.