Common University Entrance Test does not delay academic calendar in central universities education Subhash Sarkar said on Monday. The scale of CUET was huge and due to technical and geo-climatic reasons students faced some difficulties and in such cases the test was rescheduled, the government said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
“There is no information that CUET has adversely affected studies and resulted in increase in the cost of graduation, rather students were able to apply to more than one university with a single form and fee. This has resulted in saving of cost and effort required to secure admission in universities,” said the minister.
Congress leader Deepak Baij had asked the government whether students this year faced delays in admission to central universities, which ultimately delayed the start of the academic year. He alleged that the delay was due to repeated cancellation of CUET.
“The scale of the test was huge and due to technical and geo-climatic reasons the students faced some difficulties and in such cases the test was rescheduled. However, the entire process was carried out successfully. In Delhi University, this year the classes started earlier than last year,” said Sarkar.
He informed that a committee of experts comprising professors from Indian institutions technology (IITs) and Central Universities have been formed to suggest improvements.
National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the first edition of CUET for around 14,90,293 candidates. Candidates applied for 54,555 unique combinations of subjects across 90 universities.
CUET-UG began in July and was marred by glitches prompting the NTA to cancel the exam at several centres. While many students were informed about the cancellation a night before the exams, many of them were turned away from the centres.
With 14.9 lakh registrations, CUET, the common gateway for undergraduate admission to all central universities, is now the second largest entrance test in the country, surpassing JEE-Main’s average registration of 9 lakhs.
NEET-UG is the biggest entrance exam India 18 lakh registrations on an average. While JEE-Mains is a Computer-Based Test (CBT) conducted twice a year, NEET is conducted in pen and paper mode.
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