Admissions to be based on 50% CET, 50% Class 12 result starting 2023-24: Uday Samant
PUNE The state government is reconsidering admissions to professional and technical undergraduate courses with 50% weightage to Common Entrance Test (CET) scores and 50% weightage to Class 12 results, minister for higher education Uday Samant said on Tuesday
PUNE The state government is reconsidering admissions to professional and technical undergraduate courses with 50% weightage to Common Entrance Test (CET) scores and 50% weightage to Class 12 results, minister for higher education Uday Samant said on Tuesday.
At present, Class 12 marks are considered only to determine the student’s eligibility to appear for the CET, while their admission to courses such as engineering, law and pharmacy among others, are based on their CET score.
The minister said that the government plans to introduce this system in the next academic year, which is 2023-24. The state higher education department will issue an official order in this regard soon, he added.
“Under the current system we observed that students only focus on CET examinations, while the importance of the Class 12 board exams diminished. As a result, the number of students appearing for Class 12 exams reduced. Hence, we have decided to introduce the new system,” said Samant, who was in Pune to conduct review meetings with Deccan College deemed to be University and SNDT Women University.
In 2012, the similar formula was introduced for a year, but was discontinued following criticism from students and parents’ bodies.
Last week, in a meeting between chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, and other government officials, the issue of considering average marks with 50% weightage from CET and Class 12 results, was discussed.
Two days ago, another meeting was held to take review and plan this year’s CET exams, said Samant. From next academic year CET results will be declared on July 1. “For this year, plans are to declare the result within next 10 days, after the exam is conducted. So, no results will be put on hold for all other exams to happen, and one by one results will be declared.” Samant said.
“This 50:50 weightage system will help students make the base of Class 12 strong and also the importance of CET will be retained,” Samant said on Tuesday.
“Once the approval comes through, the change will be introduced to the CET admission brochure, and accordingly will be followed at the time of admissions. The system is online already, so students will be asked to submit their scores from Class 12 and entrance test and a combined score will then be used for admissions,” a senior official from the state education department said.
The implementation is contingent on approval from the government.
The news received mixed responses from teachers and students. “For years students [applying to such courses] have appeared for Class 12 exams as a formality, knowing well that their admissions to coveted courses will be determined by entrance exam scores alone. This move is in the right direction, provided it is not implemented immediately. Students should be made aware of this in advance and therefore, implementation should be at least a year later,” Gopakumaran Thampi, principal of Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, Bandra, said.
“All national level entrance exams consider only the scores of the entrance test for admissions, including Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) as well as National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). Most students appear for both state level as well as national level entrance exams and the only thing we request for is uniformity. We are already stressed out about the exams,” said Akruti Pandya, a Class 12 student as well as a JEE and MH-CET aspirant.
Samant also said on Tuesday that the state was considering the option of allowing students to appear for the CET exam a second time if they scored less marks in their first attempt and wanted to improve their score.
In 2012, when Prithviraj Chavan was chief minister, a similar system of 50:50 weightage from CET and Class 12 was offered to students on a trial basis. However, it was discontinued after a year as it attracted criticism from teachers and parents.
Speaking about delay in the CET exams, Samant said, “As per the guidelines of the AICT to start the academic year of the technical education courses from September 1, we had planned to conduct CET exams in June and July, though the dates overlapped with JEE exams. So we could not take the exams early this year and it was postponed. From next academic year, ”