NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday said the scale of the first-ever Common University Entrance Test (CUET) was huge and some difficulties were faced by students due to technical and geo-climatic reasons leading to rescheduling. However, the Union Education Ministry told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that the overall process was managed successfully.
“There is no information that CUET has adversely affected the studies, and it has resulted in cost escalation of graduation, rather one student has been able to apply to more than one university with a single application,” said Dr Subhas Sarkar, Minister of State for Education, to a question that the exam adversely affected the studies of the students. To another question, whether the cost of graduation has increased for the students due to the introduction of CUET, the minister said, “the exam resulted in saving on cost and effort needed earlier to secure admission in their universities.”
The minister said Delhi University started its classes earlier this year than last. The last date for admissions to the University of Delhi in the previous three years was August 31, 2019 (2019-20), January 15, 2021 (2020-21) and December 31, 2021 (2021-22).
Dr Sarkar said in pursuance of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, the CUET was conducted for admission in central universities from the academic year 2022-23 to reduce the burden on students, universities and the entire education system. Accordingly, the National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted this examination for approximately 14,90,293 candidates.