Common University Entrance Test (CUET): What does India aim to achieve with this new system?

It has been an extraordinary time for students of class 12 in India, who have been reeling under anxiety and stress with the unconventional online mode of education since the pandemic hit. It's time now for the students to dive into the fierce competition of getting admission in the university of their choice.

For the first time, Indian students will sit for the Common University Entrance Test or the CUET. This test will open the doors of all universities and undergraduate courses for students irrespective of the marks they secure in the 12th board exams.

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Based on their performance in this one test, students will be able to secure a seat in the course of their choice.

So far, more than 10 lakh students have applied for the Common University Entrance Test with more than 6 lakh candidates aiming for the university of India's national capital - Delhi University.

But what does India aim to achieve with this new system, and will it make 12th Board exams redundant? will it affect school education adversely?

Speaking to WION, Jagadesh Kumar, chief of the University Grants Commission, India's top university regulatory body, said it will take the load off students to score higher in board exams.

"The CUET is a standardised approach for admission process in universities. When the admission season comes, students have to run from university to university to fill up entrance exam forms.

There has been a lot of variation in the 12th standard marks for admission. With CUET, we wanted to bring a standardised system and an objective test to admit students in universities," Kumar said.

He said that close to 11 lakh students have registered and 89 universities in India are participating in the CUET.

"We hope that CUET provides window of opportunity to students who may not get high board scores. Now everyone will have the opportunity to apply for CUET and look for opportunity in university. It will provide a level playing ground to all students," Kumar said.

The UGC chief urged students to focus on becoming good learners. He said schools should focus on creating an ecosystem so that students become good learners as CUET will take away the stress to score very high in boards.

"Now they can focus on becoming good learners. It is important. For eg, students who get admitted in IITs have more than 80 % in their school education which clearly indicates that despite IITJEE being highly competitive examinations, they still focus on studies in school," he said.

The application process for CUET began on April 2 this year and was closed on May 22, during which nearly 9.15 lakh students applied for CUET.

Due to the heavy load of applications, the registrations were reopened on May 27 for five days. The application process was closed at 9 pm on Tuesday.

While university students feel that a common entrance test will reduce the pressure of the cut off system and bring all candidates at par, teachers said that it will reduce the relevance of board exams.

"Board exams will become redundant with CUET as students will focus more on preparing for it and scores of board exams won't matter. The CUET has been imposed on us despite our reservations," said DU Professor Rajesh Jha, who is also a former member of the Delhi University Executive Council.

He also expressed concern over people coming from different state boards saying it will be unfair for them.

However, the UGC chief said that paper setters are being sensitised about this fact.

"This is one concern some people have expressed because we are using 12th standard NCERT syllabus and in some state boards, NCERT syllabus is not followed. That is why we have sensitised the paper setters to be aware of these differences.

"Since we are using the 12th class syllabus, we are planning to give 50 questions but they have to attempt only 40 questions which gives them a lot of choice," Kumar said.

More than 10 lakh students will be sitting for the test which will be conducted in July this year by the National Testing Agency.

According to the UGC chairman, no extra preparation is required for CUET and students have to focus on their board exams syllabus only.

Total CUET applications till May 31: Nearly 11 lakh

Till May 22

Candidates for DU: 6,05,146; Candidates for Jamia Milia Islamia: 1,22,478; Candidates for BR Ambedkar University: 1,30,371

In DU, Over 1 lakh applications each for BA (hons) English, BCom, BCom (hons)

In DU till May 22:

BA (Hons) English -- total applications- 1,01,157, applications per seat-35

BCom -total applications- 1,05,437, app per seat-13.6

BCom (Hons) - total app- 1,05,780, app per seat- 13.3

Bachelors in Management Studies - 81.9 applicants per seat

Bachelors in Business Economics - 80.3 applicants per seat

BA (Hons) Psychology - 75.6 applicants per seat

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