By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 21: Captain Williamson Sangma State University, Meghalaya’s first state university, may be the answer to prayers of those beleaguered by the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) in the state.
Education Minister Rakkam Sangma on Wednesday said that the reason behind changing the nomenclature and scope of the Captain Williamson Sangma Technical University (formerly) to a full-fledged University was precisely to bypass CUET.
The CUET is a problem because it is applicable to central university and all state colleges are affiliated to NEHU as it is the only university here, Sangma said.
“A college student from Nongtalang has no reason to appear for CUET but because the colleges are affiliated to NEHU, they have to appear for CUET. But now, we will start the process of asking the colleges to start affiliating with Captain Williamson Sangma State University”.
After affiliation, there will be no need to appear for CUET unless they are applying for a post in a particular university, the minister said.
The state currently has to cater to the needs of 35,197 students appearing for the CUET test with three settings per day for 1,200 students at 23 centres, according to Sangma.
It may be mentioned that the state government has been approaching the Centre seeking exemption every year from the CUET, and the central government has obliged.