The manner in which the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) is being conducted leaves a lot to be desired. Going by the experiences of the aspirants then if parents are not well off to fly their children at short notice to distant centres like Chennai then their wards have missed the bus. Anurag Mehra, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Associate Faculty at the Center for Policy Studies, at IIT Bombay says in an article, “Our policy-makers have an uncanny knack for finding solutions to existing problems that create even more problems. The recent announcement that admissions to 45 UGC-funded Central Universities will now be exclusively through the Central University Entrance Test (CUET) is a case in point.” The reason advanced by the UGC is that CUET will, “create a level field”.
That level field it is argued can be created by ending the “moderation” of the actual marks that students get in their board examinations because this is what leads to marks inflation, ultra-high scores in CBSE 12th boards; the entire process is non-transparent and devoid of any scientifically-validated basis. Hence the problem is with the board examinations, and not with the admissions process which was merely using their scores. The solution lies in addressing the problems associated with board examinations and not in changing the admissions system.A common core curriculum should be implemented across state boards so that the CBSE and ICSE do not have an unfair advantage over those passing from state boards. This will bring about a universalization of education.
Unfortunately, the medicine – in this case CUET- is worse than the cure and is likely to exclude deserving students who for reasons of resource are unable to afford coaching. The CUET has made board exams completely irrelevant. Now teaching will be oriented towards scoring well in the entrance examination but students will still have the stress of clearing board examinations. What CUET will do is to promote rote-learning without much use for reason and will not test the individual’s thinking capacity.CUET will also deal a death blow to “long-form” learning and will only push students to focus on objective-type questions in the CUET. The reading and writing skills that were considered an integral part of all-round school education will all be abandoned in favour of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ). Educationists across the country have voiced their reservations on CUET. Their case is that MCQs are the worst way to evaluate people for most subjects, especially the arts, literature, social sciences and the natural sciences.Perhaps what is needed is a countrywide movement against CUET which is aimed at benefiting the coaching industry at huge cost to students and parents.
