BEATING THE EXAM BLUES

THE UGC’S PROPOSED ‘ONE NATION, ONE ENTRANCE EXAM’ WILL GO A LONG WAY IN EASING THE HASSLES OF STUDENTS WHO ARE FORCED TO APPEAR MULTIPLE EXAMS FOR GAINING ENTRANCE TO VARIOUS COURSES. BESIDES, OTHER STEPS TAKEN BY THE COMMISSION TO ENHANCE THE STANDARD OF EDUCATION TO GLOBAL STANDARDS WILL PREVENT DRAIN OF RESOURCES TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently announced plans to combine NEET and JEE Main with CUET in an effort to bring all entrance exams under a single umbrella. The aim is to create a single entrance exam for all purposes. NEET, JEE and CUET are all conducted by NTA. According to UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, the move towards 'one nation, one entrance exam' was in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. While JEE is the gateway exam for engineering studies, NEET is the same for UG medical studies. CUET, the Common University Entrance Test launched in 2022, is likely to be held twice a year from 2023 onwards and is set to eliminate the need to appear in multiple entrance exams, a move that should reduce the burden on students to a great extent.

On the ‘one nation, one exam’ which is designed to eliminate the need to appear in multiple entrances, Shri Kumar, while talking to a news outlet, said, “After the introduction of CUET, we now have three major entrance examinations in the country — NEET, JEE and CUET — and most students take at least two of these examinations, and many may even write all three. In NEET, you have Biology, Physics and Chemistry, and in JEE you have Maths, Physics and Chemistry. So, two subjects are anyway common there and the same subjects are also used in CUET for admission in various universities. So, why should we subject the students to multiple entrance examinations. According to Shri Kumar, the CUET exam may be conducted more than once from next year. “Let’s have one common entrance examination maybe in the coming year or next year, but conduct it multiple times in a year, maybe twice in a year so that students will have an opportunity to write it a second time and get admission in disciplines of their choice.”