NEET, JEE with CUET: Below 30% aspirants feel its good idea, Shiksha Poll

As per a poll conducted by Shiksha.com on Twitter and Youtube, it was found that less than 30 percent of students are in favour of combining the medical and engineering entrance exam with CUET.

University Grants Commission (UGC) is planning to bring JEE Mains, NEET, and CUET under one umbrella from the next academic year. While the concept of combining various entrance exams and making the ‘One Nation One Entrance Exam’ a ‘reality’ is still under process, the revelation made by M Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of the UGC has given nightmares to many.

As per a poll conducted by Shiksha.com on Twitter and Youtube, it was found that less than 30 percent of students are in favour of combining the medical and engineering entrance exam with CUET.

Kumar while speaking to one of the media houses shared that the Commission has formed a committee to look into merging of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test and JEE Main Exam with the Common University Entrance Test, CUET-UG which has widened its reach from this year, bringing the undergraduate courses offered all the central universities (barring a few in northeast and Uttarakhand) under it.

Adding to UGC's proposal, the Chairman further added that the concept of 'One Nation, One Entrance', is in line with the National Education Policy, NEP 2020. Having one entrance exam would work towards reducing the burden of students to appear for multiple entrance tests. However, education experts, university professors, deans, students and parents are talking about several other aspects.

One Nation One Entrance Exam: Shiksha Poll results

The concept of One Nation One Entrance Exam started generating heat on various media portals. In search of the ground realities, Shiksha.com conduct various polls to understand the wants of majority. A poll conducted on Shiksha’s official Twitter handle revealed that nearly 70% (69.7%) do not think that it is a good move by UGC. 

However, numbers on Shiksha’s Youtube poll showed that while 53 % did not like the move, 30% said that it is a brilliant idea. While 17% are still waiting for it to happen to make any opinion.

For better understanding, Shiksha.com got in touch with various education experts as well as students to understand their take on the ‘One Nation, One Entrance Exam’.

Pool of mismanagement and logistical disaster

National Testing Agency is being slammed all over social media for mismanagements during CUET and other entrance exams. Last-minute exam centre change, schedule change, exam postponement, errors on admit cards, and the list goes on. What would happen when there will be just one exam for all UG courses?

Calling ‘One Nation One Entrance Exam’ an extremely bad idea, Abha Dev Habib, Associate Professor, Miranda House, DU, said, “One nation, one examination is bad slogan. It undermines the needs of different disciplines and will fail to evaluate students for that aptitude. In addition, one single examination means more business for coaching by serving same food/module! Less work, more customers. There is a need to think in the light of the observations of Madras High Court judgement on NEET.”

Hinting on the malpractices that takes place during exams and the technical glitches that happen, Abha added, “It also means many more incidences of paper leaks and corruption. NTA has failed miserably in handling CUET. One exam will mean that it will be conducted for entire student population!”

“For students, it will be make and break. To evaluate and rest future of a student on one -day's performance is a bogus, unacademic and unforgiving system. It has to be rejected right away. It will undermine school education and joy of learning. MCQs seldom mean clarity of concepts and critical thinking,” the professor added.

Need for focused learning approach

“One India one exam theory renders me speechless. I find it absurd because every exam has a different syllabus and different approach. Each exam is based on a certain position. How is this justifiable that we take a single exam for various positions while each of them has a different academic and aptitude requirement,” said Sonia Jeenwal, PhD scholar, guest faculty, Delhi University.

Jeenwal further added, “I don't think so,  that it will be beneficial to anyone because when somebody plans to give any exam they plan about according to their respective qualifications. Having a single exam means adding several attributes to one single thing. While we are working towards skill-based learning or mastering a single aspect instead of being a jack of all trades. It is important that we move towards a more focused learning.”

Monumental step in right direction

Not all experts are against the idea of one exam (if implemented correctly)! Calling ‘One Nation One Entrance Exam’ a monumental step, Professor Prasad Khandekar, Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, MIT World Peace University, Pune said, “This format can be compared to the US SAT, where scores determine which courses you can pursue at which colleges. The idea will help to reduce the burden of students applying and appearing for multiple exams by bringing streams that require the same body of knowledge into one. This would also help students in choosing from streams they are passionate about.”

“One Nation One exam is a furtherance of the NEP agenda of common entrance examinations by the National Testing Agency for undergraduate and graduate admissions and fellowships across the country. It is meant to reduce the multiple entrance exams that form the basis of admissions to UG courses in the country- namely, JEE, NEET & CUET. The proposed test, as such, would provide a level-playing field to students by leveling the diverse standards of teaching and marking across boards,” said Dr. Taruna Gautam, Vice-Chancellor IILM University, Greater Noida.

Reduce pressure from students

There is no doubt saying that entrance exams put a lot of pressure on students. Students aspiring seats in prestigious engineering or medical colleges often start their preparation at an early stage. Many coaching institutes have started enrolling Class 6-7 students for IIT preparations. Considering the amount of chaos a student go through to grab a seat of his/her choice, ‘One Nation One Entrance Exam’ sounds like a good idea.

“It will relieve students of the additional burden of taking multiple entrance exams. Furthermore, a single exam can evaluate all of their subject knowledge at the same time. As a result of the new plan, students interested in engineering and medical courses will be evaluated in the required subjects. The policy will tend to address students' logistical issues as well as the expenses borne by state and central universities to conduct exams over extended time periods, resulting in a longer admission process,” said Professor Khandekar.

“Student opportunities may be closely related to the variety of information on colleges and courses available to him through a single exam. Lowering the cost of his search for the right college or course will give the student more options to choose from in a seamless manner,” the Professor added.

Outcomes could be uncertain

Meanwhile, the IILM University VC believes that the proposed test, as such, would provide a level-playing field to students by leveling the diverse standards of teaching and marking across boards. However, it would not be generous for all students. “It is claimed that it will reduce the burden on students, since they wouldn't have to write multiple entrance exams, with common subjects. But the proposed single exam, it is pointed out, will be based on the NCERT syllabus, followed largely in CBSE schools. But the majority of the students in the states follow state boards, which are least congruent to the CBSE syllabus. Hence the combined exam for the whole country would be highly disadvantageous to a large majority coming from state boards,” the VC said.

Taruna further added, “Since educational standards across the country are still very diverse and skewed, a combined exam would favor the privileged students more. The requirements for different courses across the country can't be standardized until the school education is also standardized. Till then the combined exam outcomes could be very uncertain & skewed in favor of certain groups.”

Multiple attempts required

There are high probabilities for an exam to go wrong. Stating that ‘One Nation One Entrance Exam’ should be implemented with multiple attempt opportunities, Vijaysekhar Chellaboina, Dean of Engineering, GITAM (Deemed to be University) said, “The primary advantage of the One Nation One Exam is that a student can focus on one exam rather than ten different exams. However, while implementing, students should be given multiple chances to improve their scores. A student's future should not be decided on the performance on a single day.”

Stating that One exam can reduce anxiety in students. However, if it remains an exam with multiple choice based questions then it continues to be a poor exam in identifying the right talent, Chellaboina added, “The One Exam can be useful for multiple UG courses with a bit of choice. The central examination must conduct exams in a wide variety of subjects and the students can choose to write a subset of them depending on what they are targeting for their UG course. The universities can use specific subject scores as per the requirement of respect UG course. For example, if a student writes exams in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, english, and social sciences then the student can use the scores in mathematics, physics, chemistry for engineering admissions, social sciences and English for an admission to arts and so on. But if the student is interested only in life sciences then he or she may choose to write only biology, physics and chemistry.”

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