Schools should have been consulted before CUET notification, private schools to MoE

The National Progressive Schools Conference—a body of leading private schools—has written to the MoE to request that at least 50 per cent weightage be given to Board examination performances in central university admissions along with the CUET.

Among their submissions is that the introduction could have waited for another year because the notification has come just over a month before Class XII students sit for their Term II board examinations.

“The present batch of students, who would be seeking admission to colleges based on the newly introduced CUET & have lived through the pandemic, appeared in the X Board in 2020, Term I of the XII Board in 2021, and are currently preparing for Term II of XII Board from April 2022 till l5 June, 2022. In the middle of their preparation for the Term II of the XII Board Examinations they are now being told that they will have to appear for another common entrance examination for admission to colleges… we therefore feel that the CUET could have been introduced next year so as to bring greater awareness among students who would have sufficient time to mentally prepare themselves to take such a common entrance examination after their final Board,” they have written.

Among the other concerns they have articulated is that the CUET will be based on NCERT books which are followed in CBSE schools but not necessarily in schools affiliated to the CISCE or state boards, which might push them to seek coaching.

The association has also stated that the move will take a toll on school education by undermining it. “By not assigning any weightage to Board examination, the CUET will completely dilute the importance of school education. This will have long term repercussions on the quality of education delivered at the school level,” it has written.