Just two days after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan says that there will be no plans to merge JEE and NEET with CUET in the next two years; UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar comments that there has been no formal decision that has been taken regarding the merger, as stated in a report by PTI.
"Merger of NEET and JEE with CUET is an idea we are floating, so that there is wider discussion among stakeholders, there is no formal decision that we have taken on this...nothing will be imposed on students from the top that from next year there will be a joint exam," Kumar said.
The comment was made by the UGC chairman at Enhancing competitiveness and Quality Revolution in Indian HIgher Education, an event organised by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
He further ensured that even if a decision is taken, "It should not affect the current students who are in Classes XII and XII. We need to give them sufficient time, it will not be implemented in next two years at least. It will be implemented only after enough consultations have been done and feedback has been taken into account.'
Last month the UGC Chief had announced that JEE and NEET will be merged with CUET in future, which sent shockwaves in the student communities.
The CUET examination, the debut edition of which was held in July, was marred with glitches that required the NTA to cancel the exam at multiple centres. This further added to the apprehension of the student communities and academicians.
These tests happen to be the largest entrance exams in the country. JEE is a computer based exam and NEET is conducted in pen and paper mode. The experiment with these entrance exams can come at the cost of the careers of students.
However, UGC Chairman assures that such a decision might make higher education more inclusive to make sure education becomes more multi-dimensional and reaches the last student in the most remote area. "So, we have signed up with MeitY as they have a large number of common service centres. Any student can walk into those centres, pay a nominal monthly fee, and access digital universities," he said.
