Delhi and Uttar Pradesh account for more than half the number of candidates who appeared for the Central University Entrance Test (CUET) this year, the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) told Parliament this week.
Replying to a question asked in the Rajya Sabha Wednesday, Minister of State Dr Subhas Sarkar informed the House that 9.25 lakh candidates appeared for CUET in July and August of which 4.81 lakh alone were from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. This was followed by Bihar (84,496) Madhya Pradesh (52,385), and Haryana (46,206), Sarkar added.
CUET is the first single gateway for admission to undergraduate programmes at all central universities. Data from the National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, shows that 90 universities used CUET scores for admissions this year.
The examination debut this year was marred with technical glitches with thousands of CUET-UG candidates complaining about technical problems during their exam. In fact, on August 4, the second slot of the exam was cancelled forcing over 50,000 candidates across the country to return from centres without taking it as the NTA failed to upload question papers on time. According to government data, as many as 17,460 candidates had reported facing disruptions during their exams.
The repeated rescheduling of the exam led to a delay in the start of admissions to undergraduate programmes this year. Last week, the Ministry of Education dismissed the allegation in Parliament while replying to a question by MP Deepak Baiji.
MoS for education Sarkar denied the allegation that CUET has resulted in a delay in the academic calendar by citing Delhi University’s example and said at DU, the classes this year started earlier than last year. “Last dates for admissions in the University of Delhi during the last three years were as follows: 31.08.2019 (2019-20), 15.01.2021 (2020-21) and 31.12.2021 (2021-22),” he said.
Courtesy : The Indian Express