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Special story
Should there be only one CET?
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 11 — Should there be only one combined entrance test for admission to professional courses, including engineering, computers, information technology, dentistry, medicine and architecture, in various institutes and colleges throughout the country ?

Teachers, parents, bureaucrats and technocrats appear to be sharply divided on the issue. Most of them favour not only minimising the number of such entrance tests but also want that a student should not be allowed to take more than three entrance tests in an academic year.

The Tribune interacted with the Vice-Chancellors of Panjab University (Prof K.N. Pathak), Guru Nanak Dev University (Prof H.S. Soch), and Ambedkar Technical University (Dr H.S. Guram), the Secretary, Technical Education, Chandigarh Administration (Mr R.S. Gujral) and the Director, Higher Education, Haryana (Mrs Anuradha Gupta).

They all agreed that preference for tuitions instead of classroom teaching, growing emphasis on theory by ignoring hands-on training in laboratories and shifting of the entire focus on performance in entrance tests to various professional colleges from the final examinations conducted by universities have all started telling both on parents and students of the plus 2 classes.

They also agreed that the entrance tests have not only reduced the significance of the university examinations but also put a question mark on the future of teaching of basic or pure sciences in colleges throughout the country.

The university which conducts the entrance test on behalf of all other universities in a particular state makes some money by way of selling forms, collecting entrance test fee, etc. According to an estimate, from one entrance test in a state like Punjab or Haryana, the university conducting the test makes Rs 1 crore. In Punjab, the entrance test will be conducted by Baba Saheb Ambedkar Technical University for technical institutions while in Haryana a decision is yet to be taken in this regard — Kurukshetra University or MDU, Rohtak.

Most of the physics, chemistry, botany and zoology laboratories, which earlier used to be used by students of by +1 and +2 classes, or pre-University, pre-engineering and pre-medical classes, both in schools and colleges, mostly remain deserted now.

At the same time, both students and parents undergo a tough time. While the students remain under tremendous mental stress and pressure as they have to run from one coaching centre to another, complete their syllabi, get into revision and then take entrance examinations one after the other, the parents, too, bear the brunt.

They not only shell out huge amounts of money to pay for private coaching but also take upon themselves the responsibility of dropping and picking up their wards from one coaching centre or the other besides accompanying them to far-off places at the time of examinations.

The academician blames the parents, especially those belonging to the service class, more than the present system, which generally deprives a science student of the thrills and adventures of teenage life.

“The parents put their children under a lot of pressure simply because they want them to get into job-oriented professional courses. The reason is simple. The job market is shrinking. Unless a child gets into a good stream, which automatically gets him a job, the worries of the parents continue till their ward is settled. So in their endeavour to get their child into a professional course, they make him or her work harder, at times against his or her wishes, and do not rest till they succeed,” opine some of the academicians.

Professor Pathak personally favours a combined entrance test maintaining that it will not only save the student from both physical and mental agony but also save his parents money and botheration.

“There may be some problems, including those relating to different reservations in different states or variations in the syllabi. If these can be sorted out, there will be nothing like it. I have read in newspapers that the Ministry of Human Resources is contemplating a CET from the next academic session. I have also read that most of the states are opposed to it. Officially, we have not received any communication to this effect from any source,” Professor Pathak says.

Professor Soch, however, maintains that a CET is not possible for various reasons. The best solution to this vexed problem, he says, is that each state should have only one combined entrance test. If this is done it will save both the students and their parents a lot of botheration and agony.

“A combined entrance test will be full of problems. The CBSE has tried and introduced it for 20 per cent seats on an all-India basis for fostering national integration and communal harmony. The present admission system has about five months to complete. And such a system will leave many seats vacant. Every child wants to get admission to more than one institution and at the end many seats are left vacant. I agree that the present entrance test system needs improvements and the teaching of science subjects, including laboratory work, needs to be improved. But the present entrance system has definitely given better students a chance to get into professional institutes than the previous system,” adds Professor Soch.

Dr Guram says that it is a “debatable issue” as so many factors are involved while making admission to technical institutions. In Punjab there will be only one combined entrance test for admission to all technical institutions, he adds.

Dr Guram also refers to the Net test introduced by the University Grant Commission. A similar test is being conducted by the states also. He says that he is aware that the Union Human Resource Ministry is contemplating the introduction of an all-India CET. “Let us wait and see,” he concludes.

Mr Gujral is also personally in favour of one combined entrance test provided “it is technically feasible”. He feels that different states and Union Territories have adopted different criteria with regard to the reservation of seats in professional institutions and also for determining the “domicile” of the candidate.

Combined entrance test?
The Union Human Resources Ministry proposes to introduce a combined entrance test from the 2002-2003 academic session. Parents, teachers, academicians and even students want that to concretise this proposal, the ministry must notify at least a year in advance :

a. Syllabi for subjects in which it wants to hold the test so that every student gets a fair chance to prepare himself/ herself for the CET.

b. Students should be considered for admission not only to states/Union Territories where they are otherwise eligible but also for the “general category open seats” which are over and above seats reserved for state domiciles.

c. Examination centres must be notified earlier and students must be given all options as would have been given to them if they had taken part in similar entrance tests in their own state or Union Territory.

d. The CET should be conducted on the lines of the preliminary Civil Services examination and one nodal agency should be appointed to conduct the test for all subjects and all streams.

What parents have to say!
Innumerable combined entrance tests are held each year by various institutions of different states for plus 2 students. This is done for getting the students admitted to courses in engineering, computer and information technology, architecture, dentistry and medicine.

This results in a huge financial burden on the parents besides a colossal waste of their precious time and energy. Such tests at different places also lead to tremendous mental stress on teenagers. Instances of depressive illness and even suicides in extreme cases are not unknown in this group of youngsters.

We, therefore, feel that there should be only one combined entrance test on an all-India basis which should be sufficient for preparing a genuine merit list. Based on this list, the admission to various professional courses of different states and Union Territories can be made. In this regard, the “rankings” provided by the “Cell of IITs” screening test is the “best” and without an iota of suspicion.

The IITs of India are among the best institutions in the world. This year alone 1,27,337 students appeared for its screening test. All of them have been intimated their “ranking”. This “ranking” in the IITs’ screening test must be made full use of by the states, central universities and autonomous bodies.

The rest of the screening tests or CETs need to be scrapped henceforth. This will relieve the agony of thousands of these youngsters and their families. Our nation will be spared of this gross error of judgement on the part of the “thekedars” of education.