Teachers, Academic Council members write to DU VC regarding CUET concerns

On Friday, May 26, a section of teachers and academic council members wrote a note to the Delhi University's Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh, for an in-depth analysis and investigation into the difficulties faced by the students due to the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) and the impact that the paper has on the "social profile" of classrooms, as per PTI reports.

In the note, they alleged that there appeared to be a steep rise in admission of students belonging to the upper-middle economic class due to the CUET.

The CUET, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), was launched last year for admission to various undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG)  programmes.

The CUET was a standardised exam introduced to ease the hassle borne by students from appearing for several examinations yet the move was opposed by a section of teachers.

"Since students who belong to the working class are not able to afford highly priced CUET coaching. This is a kind of virtual expulsion of students who belong to working or lower middle-class backgrounds," the teachers mentioned in the letter.

They also pointed out that a few students keep DU as a backup as they prepare for other entrance exams simultaneously.

"As a result, they do not take the classes and even the exams seriously. This causes the loss of a seat which would have been taken up by some other desirous student. This exclusion is further compounded by the fact that CUET is based only on the CBSE syllabi which is not followed by almost 80 per cent of schools in the country," the note read.

The teachers also harked on a crucial point stating that the country lacks both digital literacy and infrastructure in order to conduct an exam online.

They also raised the matter of abrupt timetables due to changes brought in after the implementation of the new NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 and the FYUP (Four Year Undergraduate Programme)

"The extra 3 papers introduced have increased the burden on students as the total number of papers stands at 7. The unhealthy class schedule of these papers has forced students to only attend classes while their learning of the core subjects has been compromised," the teachers said in the note.