-Shreyosi Chakraborty
The examination dates and schedule of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG), announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on July 12, have left class XII students and their parents worried and anxious over arbritary and packed scheduling of exams to begin on July 15. Students are faced with the challenge of writing five to six exams on one single day without even a small break in between them. CUET-UG is an all-India test for admission into undergraduate degree programmes of 45 Central universities including Delhi University.
Candidates and their parents have complained that pupils with similar subject combinations have got different examination dates and schedules. While some have their exams in the first three to four days, others have them in the month of August, giving the latter an unfair edge. Also, some candidates have to sit for four or more exams on one day, for others they have got different dates. This is unjustified, unfair and biased as some students would get almost a month more than others to prepare for the same set of papers, say angry students.
Tamanna Rawat, a class XII student of Seth Anandaram Jaipuria School, Ghaziabad said, “I downloaded my admit card today afternoon which says that it is a provisional one. Now, I do not know if I am supposed to get another final one or I have to take a print of this one. My exam is on July 16 and with just three days left, I want to avoid any hassles before it. None of my friends have their exam on July 16 and hence I have no one to discuss this with. This admit card issue is an add-on stress for all students.”
Rawat has selected a combination of English, Accountancy, and Business Economics in her first slot and Business Studies for her second slot. All four papers are on July 16 with no break and will be held at the same location.
“Most of my friends have their examination in August. I do not know on what criteria they have decided different dates for the same subject combination. One of my friends, who has the same subjects as I do, has three of his papers during the first week of August and the fourth paper during the third week of August,” says Tamanna.
Meanwhile, there are other candidates who have also complained of having two or three exams on the same day but in different districts. Again there are others who have complained that neither the examination centre nor the timing or venue of examination has been mentioned in their admit card. Social Media is flooded with #CUETUG posts and concerns from students and their parents all over the country.
If the same happened on my real admit card than I'm gone just take a look who I can cover my slot 2 exm in another district and it's on a same date if I'll go with helicopter also I will not reached #cuet #cuetadmitcard#NTA pic.twitter.com/8WFGZVlFkB
— Mr. k boies (@MrBoies) July 12, 2022
The NTA, an autonomous body under the Union ministry of education, on Monday had announced that the exam for undergraduate admissions will be conducted in two phases between July 15 and August 20.
While phase 1 will begin from July 15, phase 2 will be held from August 4.
Besides the slots, concerns over the “delay” in the release of the schedule and admit cards were also raised.
“CUETUG2022 schedule finalised just 3 days before test date! Now families have to hurriedly organise the logistics of travel to the cities with the allocated exam centres. The delay has only added to the stress for our students!,” RLD national president Jayant Singh tweeted.
While the admit card for students appearing for the exam on July 15 was released on Tuesday, students whose exams are in August will receive theirs on July 31.
Officials at the NTA, however, said they were allotted to the students in an automated manner and hence no specific protocol was followed.
According to NTA, candidates who have opted for physics, chemistry and Biology will be appearing for phase 2 as the NEET-UG is to be held on July 17.
#CUET in 2 phases now
One in July another one in August
So those who will appear in August will get more time for preparation
Is it justified?How will they evaluate students and their performance
— Adv Anubha Shrivastava Sahai 🇮🇳 (@anubha1812) July 12, 2022
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