A centralized exam for admission to colleges and universities will be disadvantageous for students in marginalized communities including those in rural areas, economically backward students, and those studying on state boards claimed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister ML Stalin. In a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Mod, Stalin asked PM to withdraw the move to mandate the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) as the mode of admission to all central universities.
Stalin in his letter called CUET a “regressive” step as it overlooks the “consensus across sections” and forces centralization of higher education. CUET will not only be mandatory for admission to central universities but the marks secured by students in CUET may also be used by state universities, private and deemed universities for admissions. Considering CUET is based on the NCERT syllabus, the exam will add extra pressure on students who studied in state boards, according to Stalin.
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First NEET and now CUET are part of the central government’s “larger attempt to centralize higher education admissions,” alleged Stalin.
“CUET, similar to NEET will sideline diverse school education system across the country, grossly undermine the relevance of overall development-oriented long-form learning in schools and make students rely upon coaching centers for improving their entrance exam score,” read the letter.
Any entrance exam that is based on the NCERT syllabus will not provide an equal opportunity to all students who have studied in varied state board syllabi across the country, said Stalin in his letter.
“In most states, the state board syllabus constitutes more than 80% of the total student population and these students invariably hail from marginalized sections Hence NCERT-based entrance exam would place this deserving majority in a disadvantageous position in securing admissions in central universities,” the letter added.
In Tamil Nady’s context, said Stalin, it’s likely to drastically reduce the number of students from “our state in various central universities and their affiliated colleges.”
“Like NEET, CUET also will be against the interest of rural poor, socially marginalized students from the state board, only favor further mushrooming of coaching centers in the domain of admissions in humanities also,” Stalin stated in the letter to PM.
He said that the exam has added indirect pressure brought on by UGC and non-central universities to adapt CUET is likely to make this centralized process even stronger.
This trend over course of time, undermines the state syllabus-based school education system by pushing students to opt for costly school adopting the NCERT syllabus, said Stalin asking PM to “withdraw (the common entrance exam) immediately”.
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