AMU to not take part in common test for admissions to central universities
The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has decided to not to participate in the common entrance test for admission to central universities that will be conducted from the coming academic year.
The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has decided to not to participate in the common entrance test for admission to central universities that will be conducted from the coming academic year, university officials said, asserting that it will maintain the status-quo on its admission policy as the case on its minority status is sub-judice.
The Ministry of Education has already announced that it will conduct a Central Universities Entrance Test (CUET) for admission to all undergraduate and postgraduate courses from academic session 2022-23. CUET, which is envisaged in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, was scheduled to start in the 2021-22 academic session, but the government put it on hold in view of the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Several universities, including Delhi University, and Jawaharlal Nehru University, have already decided that their admissions will be through CUET.
However, officials at AMU said that the university has decided not to do this. “We are pursuing a case in the Supreme Court against an Allahabad High Court judgement rejecting minority status to AMU. The Supreme Court granted status quo to AMU. The university will maintain the status quo on its admission policy as the case of minority status is sub-judice,” University spokesperson Shafey Kidwai said.
Kidwai said that the proposal regarding CUET was placed before the University’s academic council as well. “The council members decided to continue with the existing admission policy till the case is sub-judice. It means AMU will conduct its own admission test like previous years. Article 30 of the constitution grants us that right,” he said.
Under Article 30 of the constitution, all minorities, whether based on religion or language, have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
In 2005, the Allahabad High Court ruled that AMU was not a minority institution. The University appealed against the order of the single judge bench, but the appeal was also dismissed. In 2006, the Supreme Court granted status-quo to AMU. In January 2016, the NDA government reversed its earlier position and stated that AMU was not a minority institution as it was set up by an Act of Parliament. The case is pending in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Jamia Millia Islamia, another University whose minority status is also sub-judice, is yet to take a decision regarding CUET. Nazim Hussain Jafri, Registrar at the University said, “Minority institutions like ours have some reserved seats and we don’t know how they will get affected with the common entrance test. A committee has been constituted to take a decision in this regard. We will soon place the matter in our academic council.”
Officials at the university, however, said that it might also skip the common entrance test this year. “There is still no consensus over the issue. So probably this year at least the University may not participate in the common entrance test,” said a senior faculty member, requesting anonymity.
While Jamia reserves 50% of their seats for minority candidates, in AMU, it is reserved for internal candidates.
A senior official at the ministry of education, said that CUET will consider the needs of minority institutions. “The ministry had also considered the issues of minority institutions and universities having their internal reservations at the time when common entrance examinations for medical and engineering courses were introduced. The government will do the same in the case of CUET.”
The ministry will soon issue a notification regarding the common entrance test. The computerised test will be conducted by the national testing agency (NTA) in 13 languages. The test is likely to be held in June-July.
