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Date – 19th Jun 2021

With the emerging possibility of a standard entrance examination for admissions to undergraduate courses of Delhi University this year, teachers and aspirants are now raising concerns over the new format of the examination saying it'll disadvantage students from marginalized and rural backgrounds and people choosing a stream change.

Last year, the Union Ministry of Education had constituted a committee to seem into modalities for the Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) for admissions to all or any undergraduate courses at central universities in accordance with the National Education Policy 2020.

While the committee has submitted the report and therefore the ministry is yet to return out with a final judgment on whether it might be implemented this year or not, DU teachers have expressed concerns over the matter.

Former council member Rajesh Jha said that introducing a replacement mode of entrance test without giving aspirants time to familiarize themselves with the syllabus or the paper pattern may disadvantage those students who don’t have uninterrupted access to learning material.

Mr Jha also said that, “Cancellation of board exams has given thanks to demands for CUCET in order that some sort of exams is conducted for admissions to UG courses in DU. But we should always not implement anything without proper consultation with the university’s academic council and other statutory bodies. There are several research reports documenting that centralized tests like CUCET have favored people from affluent backgrounds who have access to better study material and that we need an inclusive admission policy,”

Several aspirants are writing to teachers and officials at DU requesting them to seem into the matter and form an inclusive admission policy. On Thursday, a group of class XII  students from across the country also wrote to DU’s acting vice-chancellor PC Joshi on the matter.

The students wrote in their letter,“The proposed format within the existing CUCET exams contains a subject-specific exam. On the opposite hand, universities like DU have courses that are open for college kids who haven't studied the topic [in class 12] before allowing changing of streams. there have been no restrictions in choosing the themes for graduation. But if one aspires to pursue a topic which s/he didn't learn in school 11 and 12, then such group of scholars will face problems in competing within the entrance exams where there's a subject-specific test.” 

Tisha Mondal, a category class XII student from a personal school in Bangalore who may be a part of the group, said, “We don’t have issues with CUCET because it may be a great alternative for merit-based admissions. But it had to be announced before. it's already mid-June and it's likely that the exams are going to be conducted in July or August. We don’t even have the time to gather resources, practice mock papers, and it's harder for those that are changing their streams for his or her undergraduate exam. Online coaching classes have already started for CUCET and people with high-internet access have already got an edge over others.”

Another class XII student Tanisha Pathak, who hails from Haldwani in Uttarakhand, said, “We still haven't any idea on how just in case of an integrated exam DU goes to deal with this issue. If DU adopts equivalent eligibility criteria because of the other Central Universities then it might simply restrict students from joining these courses. Moreover, conducting CUCET will contradict the NEP which freely allows students to modify streams.”

Vishal Shrivas, a resident of Tikamgarh within the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, said his younger brother wanted to use for Delhi University this year but the possibility of CUCET has left him worried.“Students in our district are wont to appearing for offline papers. they're not won't to online tests conducted in computer centers – which is that the likely format for CUCET. Besides, with the pandemic, offline learning options are few and resource gathering also will be scarce. Students will little to no internet access suffer.” 

Acting VC PC Joshi said that the CUCET committee had taken these considerations under consideration while preparing the report. “There has been no final judgment on the entrance exams yet and whenever that happens, these concerns are going to be taken under consideration. there's no need for unfounded fear and aspirants are going to be provided reasonable time and syllabus for the test. it's premature to stress about this right now,”

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