By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, May 9: The state government has asked the Director General of the National Testing Agency (NTA) to allot CUET (UG) 2025 examination centres for Meghalaya students within the state.
On Thursday, Education Secretary Swapnil Tembe stated in a letter to the NTA head that several complaints were received from the students across Meghalaya about having been allotted centres in Assam, Tripura, and other states despite opting for Shillong.
He said the students faced a similar situation before, leading to the last-minute allocation of centres in Meghalaya.
“We would like to request you to change their centres as per their choice given within the state of Meghalaya,” Tembe, who is also the State Nodal Officer for the NTA exams, said.
He said the state government and the district administrations concerned had earlier extended all possible support in identification of possible centres in the state.
“However, the last-minute change also poses administrative challenges, and hence, the matter should be immediately taken up and all such candidates should be allotted centres in Meghalaya,” Tembe said.
He also said all educational institutions have been directed to extend full support and cooperation for the conduct of all NTA exams in Meghalaya.
He said that a State-Level Committee has also been formed through a notification on March 11 to oversee the smooth conduct of all NTA exams. The districts were also told on March 20 to form district-level committees for the same purpose.
Tembe said all the districts have constituted the committees and are monitoring all the NTA exams at their level. He added that the NEET (UG) exam was successfully conducted at various centres within the state recently.
“The state has a hilly terrain, and it is very difficult and costly for students to travel long distances. That is why centres outside the state will not be feasible for most of the students,” he said.
Commissioner and Secretary of Education, Vijay Mantri, said he has also taken up the matter with the NTA Director General, who assured him that the grievances of the Meghalaya students would be addressed.
Admission guidelines
The NEHU Controller of Examination, Sumarbin Umdor said the admission to NEHU-affiliated colleges shall consist of two rounds, according to the admission guidelines 2025 issued by the university.
He said that in the first round, admission shall be based on the scores obtained in CUET (UG) 2025. The second round of admission will be based on the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Citing the directive of the Ministry of Education, Dr Umdor said the CUET or Common University Entrance Test score is mandatory for admission to undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programmes in all Central universities and their constituent and affiliated colleges.
“However, the SOP issued by the UGC in 2023 permits the admission of non-CUET candidates only if vacancies remain after all CUET-based applicants have been accommodated,” he told The Shillong Times.
He said that in such cases, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) may admit non-CUET candidates using a transparent, well-publicised Institutional Mode Selection Method, strictly after the conclusion of the CUET-based counselling.
According to the CUET information bulletin, he said that all admissions must comply with the reservation policies applicable at the time of admission.
Dr Umdor said that generally, state-run or government-aided or recognised institutions follow their respective state government’s reservation policies. He further said that Central universities apply the reservation policy of the respective university.
He said that NEHU has been admitting students to its UG and PG programmes based on CUET scores and the SOP issued by the UGC, adding that the same admission procedures shall now be followed by all NEHU-affiliated colleges in 2025.