CUET a mammoth exercise, students faced problems but managed successfully: Centre

The Centre on Wednesday, December 7 said the scale of the first-ever Common University Entrance Test (CUET) was huge and some difficulties were faced by students due to technical and geo-climatic reasons leading to rescheduling. However, the Union Education Ministry told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that the overall process was managed successfully.

"There is no information that CUET has adversely affected the studies and it has resulted in cost escalation of graduation, rather one student has been able to apply to more than one university with a single application," said Dr Subhas Sarkar, Minister of State for Education, to a question that the exam adversely affected the studies of the students, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express. 

CUET saved costs, reduced burden

To another question, whether the cost of graduation has increased for the students due to the introduction of CUET, the minister said, "The exam resulted in saving on cost and effort needed earlier to secure admission in their universities." Dr Sarkar added that in pursuance of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the CUET was conducted for admission in central universities from the academic year 2022-23 to reduce the burden on students, universities and the entire education system.

Accordingly, the National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted this examination for approximately 14,90,293 candidates. These candidates had applied for 54,555 unique combinations of subjects across 90 universities. Data on admission in private universities are not centrally maintained, the minister said. "The CUET was welcomed as a forward step in higher education by the academic fraternity," the minister added, as per TNIE.

Debut edition of CUET

Touted as India's second biggest exam, the examinations for admission in undergraduate courses were conducted from September 1 to September 7 and then from September 9 to 12 at 570 examination centres located in 269 cities across India and four cities outside India. The exams were marked with technical glitches and last-minute centre changes, inconveniencing thousands of students and parents. Though CUET (PG) was voluntary for universities, 66 universities, including 27 central and state and private universities, participated, TNIE reported.