Students heaved a sigh of relief after Govt's intervention, Students, Parents raise hue and cry over chaotic CUET
Jattan S. Gill
New Delhi/Jammu Tawi,June 09:
After much hue and cry and the J&K Administration's intervention brought a sigh of relief to the affected students, who had been holding their breath for a solution, still many glitches are not yet over for a number of students.
The Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG) will continue till June 17 with more than 65,000 candidates yet to take the exam, according to officials.
This will be the second extension of the undergraduate admission entrance test. The exams were scheduled from May 21 to May 31, which was later extended to June 7. The National Testing Agency (NTA) has now released the admit cards for June 9 to June 11.
Because the government acted only after the issue became public, it appears that the government must now appoint a nodal officer in the school education and higher education departments to coordinate with exam-conducting authorities such as the NTA in order to avoid such problems in the first place.
The NTA will soon announce the dates for further rounds of the exam. The results are expected to be announced in July.
The exams are likely to continue till June 17 and most of these tests will be conducted in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand. The results are expected within 15 days from the date of completion of the exams.
“According to the original schedule, the results were expected around June 20, which will now probably be announced around the first week of July,” a senior official said.
More than 14 lakh applications have been received for the CUET-UG this year, registering a 41-per cent increase from its debut edition last year.
The CUET-UG is the second-largest entrance exam in the country in terms of the number of applicants. In its first edition, 12.5 lakh students had registered for the exam and 9.9 lakh had submitted their applications.
Unlike last year, the exam is being conducted in three shifts.
Most of the pending candidates are from Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand, while there are some from other states and Union territories too who are waiting for the dates. So far, the CUET-UG has registered an attendance of around 75 per cent.
The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) this year descended into chaos as thousands of students were assigned to exam centres outside of Jammu and Kashmir, causing them huge inconvenience and distress.
A Parent body yesterday presented a student Shruti Khajuria whose first slot came in Kunjwani but after that a mail about the second slot came on June 9 at 2 a.m. She was shocked to note that her slot was fixed for the 11.00 am in the morning at Exam center at Jalandhar. Thus she was expected of reaching Jallandhar within two hours and take examination which was not humanly possible.
Another student complained that his first slot and the paper was held at 10.30 am at Amritsar while the second slot was fixed in Jalandhar on the same day as he could not reach there in such a short time. His relatives raised the issue loudly and his case was resolved.
Many students from Poonch, Doda and Rajouri have also not been able to appear in the examination in the same way. Similar is the situation for the students of Kashmir valley.
The authorities should establish a nodal point for better communication between the NTA and the J&K Higher Education Department in order to address aspirants' concerns.
