The central government has again exempted Central Universities in the Northeast from conducting the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admissions to undergraduate programmes for another year due to “operational difficulties”.
The ministry of education has written about it’s the decision to the University Grants Commission (UGC) on March 15, 2023. The exemption may be extended for one more year for 2023-2024, the ministry said.
“Considering the operational difficulties in conducting the exam of CUET i.e. the issue of geographical conditions, hilly terrain, far-flung location, limited digital connectivity, infrastructure etc, it has been decided that Central Universities of North Eastern Region…and HNB Garhwal University Uttarakhand was allowed to take admission in the affiliated colleges to the Central Universities as per the past practice instead of CUET for the year 2022-23 only,” the ministry said.
In Northeast, Sikkim University, Rajiv Gandhi University in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur University, Assam University, Tezpur University, Nagaland University, Tripura University, Mizoram University and North-Eastern Hill University in Meghalaya have been exempted from CUET.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has expressed gratitude to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for the exemption of CUET for students of Meghalaya.
It may be mentioned that Sangma had on March 10 sought the exemption of CUET for Meghalaya students seeking under-graduate courses in colleges within the State.
In the letter, Sangma said that Meghalaya has recently undergone the Legislative Assembly election the results of which have been declared last week and this has resulted in the delay of State Board examination “and in this regard, students are facing unprecedented challenges to attempt the CUET for the State level undergraduate institutions.”
Sangma also said that the State government has taken steps to create a State University, for which the government will soon be receiving the approval of the Governor of Meghalaya.
