Students of Meghalaya are a confused lot after the repeated twists and turns by the State government on the issue of Common University Entrance Test (CUET).
On May 2, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had said that students of non-centrally funded colleges, private colleges and State government-aided colleges will not be required to attempt the CUET for admissions into undergraduate courses. He informed that these colleges would be “exempted” from the all-India test.
Sangma said this soon after meeting Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi.
“… They (the Centre) have agreed that there will be certain areas in which they will try to exempt some of our colleges, which are not necessarily centrally funded, those will not have to appear for the exam,” Sangma said adding that an official confirmation from the Central government in this regard is expected “in a day or two”.
Sangma even wrote on Twitter, “Thank Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for his positive response to our request to exempt non-centrally funded/private colleges & State Govt aided colleges from appearing for the CUET exams. This addresses the concerns of students of our State to a great extent.”
Soon after Sangma’s announcement, students in the State were relieved and some had trusted the chief minister’s statement so much so that they even stopped registering for CUET.
However, till date the state government is yet to receive any official communication on the Centre’s decision to exempt government-aided and private colleges in Meghalaya from the CUET.
Yesterday, Sangma gave another twist by saying that students from the State would not have to appear for CUET “if they are not applying for the courses in NEHU”.
“Only the colleges which fall under the academic programmes of NEHU will have to go through the CUET and other colleges which are affiliated and only for the sake of affiliation are with NEHU the students applying to those colleges will now no longer have to apply or give CUET examination,” he said.
Now the students and parents are confused as to whom to believe – Sangma or the University Grants Commission (UGC).
It may be mentioned that UGC has made it compulsory for students seeking admission to colleges affiliated to central universities to appear in the CUET exams.
Since NEHU is a central university in Meghalaya, all colleges in the State are affiliated to the university.
