Stalin writes to Modi requesting withdrawal from CUET

Stalin has alleged that similar to NEST, CUET will side-line the diverse school education systems across the country

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting to withdraw the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admissions in all Central universities.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has announced that from the academic year 2022-2023 the admissions for various courses in all Central Universities will be done only through the Common University Entrance Examination (CUET) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

Further, it has been said that the marks secured by students in CUET may also be followed by State Universities, Private and Deemed Universities for their admission process if they opt for so.

Tamil Nadu CM has termed this decision a regressive step and a move to centralise higher education in the country. The letter to PM Modi reads: “It has clearly vindicated the consistent stand of our Government, which is based on the consensus across sections in Tamil Nadu that the introduction of NEET for MBBS admissions was not an isolated instance but a definitive prelude to the larger attempt of the Union Government to centralise higher education admissions.”

NTA has started the registration process for CUET 2022 on April 6, 2022. Candidates who want to apply for Common Universities Entrance Test can apply online through the official site of CUET on cuet.samarth.edu.in.

The last date to apply for the CUET is till May 6, 2022, up to 11.50 pm. The entrance examination will be conducted in the first and second week of July 2022. The examination will be conducted in two slots- Slot 1 for 195 minutes and Slot 2 for 225 minutes. The mode of exam is LAN Based on CBT and the pattern of the exam is multiple-choice questions.

‘CUET will side-line school education systems’

Stalin has alleged that similar to NEST, CUET will side-line the diverse school education systems across the country, grossly undermine the relevance of overall development-oriented long-form learning in schools and make students rely upon coaching centres for improving their entrance examination scores.

“I wish to reiterate that any entrance examination that is based on NCERT syllabus will not provide an equal opportunity to all students who have studied in varied State Board syllabi across the country. In most States, State Board syllabus students constitute more than 80% of the total student population and these students invariably hail from the marginalised sections. Hence an NCERT syllabus based entrance examination would place this deserving majority in a disadvantageous position in securing admission in Central Universities,” writes Stalin.

He has alleged that in Tamil Nadu's context, this is likely to drastically reduce the number of students from our State in various Central Universities and their affiliated colleges. The people of Tamil Nadu are apprehensive that like NEST, CUET also will be against the interests of the rural poor and socially marginalised students from the State and will only favour further mushrooming of coaching centres in the domain of admission in humanities also.

Indirect pressure on Non-Central Universities to adopt CUET

In his letter to Modi, Stalin has alleged that the indirect pressure is brought on by the UGC on Non-Central Universities to adopt CUET is likely to make this centralisation process even stronger. According to him, this trend would, over a course of time, undermine the State syllabus based school education system by pushing students to opt for costly schools adopting the NCERT syllabus. “Considering the above issues, we view this step of making CUET mandatory for all Central Universities as yet another undesirable step in the current trend of the Union Government trying to sideline both the roles of State Governments as well as the significance of school education system in the process of admission to higher educational institutions. Therefore, I strongly urge you to withdraw this step immediately,” TN CM writes.

Read More:

• IIT Bombay, IISc, JNU, AIIMS, JGU Law School top institutions: QS WUR by Subjects 2022
• Jindal Global Law School Ranks 70th Globally in QS World University Rankings by Subject