Exemption of Meghalaya from Central University Entrance Test (CUET) will have a considerable bearing on students as exposure to such examinations prepares them for their future.
This was the opinion of Prof Sumarbin Umdor, from NEHU’s Economics Department. He pointed out that in some point in life students will have to sit for a competitive exam for higher studies or for securing a job. “In the long run the exemption will not help us. We should not be a land of exemption but we have to be a land of exceptional people and exemption will not make us exceptional,” he said.
CUET was exempted from Meghalaya by the Education Ministry following intervention by the State government for the third time.
Umdor said that the move to exempt the state from CUET was due to pressure from many quarters. The Chief Minister, as the head of the state had to respond to public demand, he said while urging the citizens not to pressurise the government.
Spelling out the advantage of CUET he said that one would have to appear for an examination which has standardized syllabi.
Umdor viewed that the CUET will give a student a level playing field because the percentage that determines their admissions, differ from one education board to another. “Some boards are very liberal in giving marks while others like the Meghalaya Board of School Education are conservative in their marking system,” he said.
Umdor, who is also the chairman of the central admission committee in NEHU, said that and even though the first list will carry the students who clear the CUET, the second list admission will be given to those who did not appear for the entrance test, if seats are available. A meeting on this was held with principals of colleges in the state, he added.
He also allayed fears that all the available seats will be taken up by students who clear CUET from outside the state and said that the reservation policy is applicable in such a situation. “In NEHU, where admissions are given on the basis of CUET, 50 per cent seats are reserved for our own students,” he added.
Umdor also said that entrance test to professional courses is nothing new, since there is NEET for admissions into MBBS, JEE for engineering, CAT and MAT for admissions into MBA courses, CLAT for law courses.
He also said that countries like USA, England, China, Turkey and others conduct entrance tests for admissions into their colleges.
