SHILLONG, March 23: Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui feels that students in Meghalaya will be in a disadvantageous position if entrance tests for admission into various undergraduate and postgraduate courses would be conducted through the Central University Entrance Test (CUET), which is a computerised exam to be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
Asserting that the Meghalaya government is aware about the Government of India notification on the entrance tests, the Education Minister on Wednesday said, “This is a good decision, but from the information I have gathered, it will be based on the NCERT textbook and this will be a huge disadvantage to the state board not just of Meghalaya but other states also.” “We will have some disadvantage if that happens, the students of rural areas, who do not have the facilities, will also be in disadvantage,” he added.
Recalling the time when Centre introduced the norm for admission into engineering schools through Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), Rymbui said, “We have seen that many students besides studying also go for coaching classes to crack it (exam). Similarly, medical students have to devote their time to study the course and the entrance exam and moreover this will be mushrooming of coaching centre where the poor students will be at a disadvantage.”
Revealing that the government, however, is yet to discern the details of the notification, the minister assured that the state government will do all it can to ensure that students do not have to face difficulties.
“This issue is not only confined to Meghalaya. All state boards have prescribed different textbooks taking into consideration their area, culture and language and we have to see how we go with it. As of now, I would not want to comment much,” he added.
The first-ever mandatory common entrance test for admission in undergraduate programmes into all 45 central universities will be held in the first week of July.
As per the notification, admission to undergraduate courses in these universities will henceforth be solely based on the CUET score, and Class 12 Board marks will not carry any weightage.