When the UGC announced the Common Universities Entrance Test, CUET 2022, it was seen by many as a welcome step.
The idea was to simplify things for students who often had to prepare for several different entrance exams for undergraduate admissions to central universities. But many teachers and students are not so sure about its feasibility.
As the CUET 2022 applications have started doing rounds, students and parents are tenser.
Since the University Grants Commission announced the CUET 2022, students and parents have been increasingly concerned about how undergraduate admissions to central universities will occur.
Some have hailed the conduction of CUET 2022 as a progressive move to make the admission process easier for students, and others are not that satisfied.
Now that the CUET 2022 application process is underway and more information is available on how the exam will work, teachers and experts share their opinions on this new system.
While many are thrilled at the idea of a single CUET 2022 test providing access to central universities across the country, the other segment is concerned about how undergraduate admissions to these institutions will take place.
According to Abha Dev Habib, Professor at DU, directing CUET 2022 is a decision that should not have been taken right now.
As the students are preparing for their boards right now, this news of getting in place with CUET 2022 will just function as new stress for them, resulting in their underperformance in the most crucial board exams.
Students have studied online for most of their precious years due to the COVID 19 pandemic, and they did not get any special support and guidance from their teachers.
In such a scenario, introducing the CUET 2022 test can worsen their results. This will burden students to score more which will eventually rise anxiety levels among the students.
Professor Abha said that students who have been preparing for the board exams are under tremendous pressure, and the CUET 2022 will add to their stress.
The university shouldn't have passed the judgment of conducting CUET 2022 in such a situation when students could not live a sound life due to the pandemic, and their studies suffered a lot.
She added that the current batch of students had studied online due to COVID-19, and they needed time to prepare themselves.
The UGC Chairman has said that CUET 2022 will be a ‘student-friendly exam,’ but some teachers and parents believe it could put more pressure on students and make their lives more stressful when they are already under tremendous stress of getting through the board exams.
The benefit of CUET 2022 is that students will have to write just one entrance exam rather than multiple ones to get into central universities.
But there is also a disadvantage: it may make students neglect their board exams to prepare for the CUET 2022 exam.
While some said that conducting CUET 2022 will help reduce stress among students, which otherwise occurs during board exams, others feel that evaluating students based on multiple-choice questions is not a fair move.
And this same point was put forth by the Principal of ITL Public School as she said that assessing students based on multiple-choice is not fair.
It can be termed as a not-so-good option to evaluate every subject based on options, as some subjects have more deep-rooted requirements, and the answers can vary from one individual to the other and hence, cannot be just checked based on options.
She added that if this mode is adopted, then every subject cannot be assessed based on MCQs as this method is not equally reliable for all the considerations.
Another teacher said that this assessment scheme would hamper students' learning process. This will affect their overall learning process, making them feel burdened.
However, teachers who support directing CUET 2022 say that it is necessary as the time lost due to COVID 19 cannot be recovered; students are already lagging in their academics and need to be improvised strictly.
The entrance test, CUET 2022, is necessary as there has been a dip in graduation level learning in colleges, so universities need to ensure that students coming for higher education are equipped with fundamentals; this exam will serve as a surety that they are ready to garner higher education.
Thus, the teachers in favour clearly stated that this was a much needed move ahead as it would help filter out the deserving students.
The move has drawn mixed reactions from parents as well. Parents across India feel that this is another hurdle their children need to cross to get into a good college after their board exams.
While many agree with the University's stance that the CUET 2022 will ensure fairness in the selection process and make it easier for those from remote areas to appear for the exam, some parents are deeply worried about its effect on student mental health at a time when they are already stressed about their board exams which determine if they get admission into top colleges in India.
Some also feel that students who have been studying online due to the shackles of the Corona pandemic should not be put through additional stress during these difficult times when they already have one responsibility on their shoulders.
The most concerned and affected strata of the population, the students, are mostly seen as unhappy and not in favour of the new strategy, CUET 2022, for multiple reasons.
One of the students stated that when they are on the verge of completing their learning process for the board exam, this is nothing but additional stress being given to them, which is not expected to result in the betterment of the students.
A very few students have been observed favouring this decision as they believe that this check can enhance the transparency of the examination system and would provide them equal opportunity to get into the premium institutions of the country.
Lastly, some experts think that the CUET 2022 would be a boon for non-elite students.
It would give students who might otherwise not have gotten a chance to join a good university an opportunity to do so, based purely on merit, others believe that it will elevate the stress level among students, and hence, the introduction of CUET 2022 is a controversial move which is gathering both support and contradiction from all the concerned groups.
However, there were dissenting voices as well which state that the present batch of class 12th has already been less fortunate as it did not have the privilege of going to school and attending regular and undisturbed classes; this move can arouse stress among students who are not ready to adopt this change at this point of time when board exams are around the corner.
Though the regulatory body, UGC, has effectively said that the main benefit of CUET 2022 is that students will have to write just one entrance exam instead of having to appear for multiple different tests depending on which university they want to apply to.
According to the administration, this step will benefit students and instead lessen their burden of appearing for various tests.
Nevertheless, the adoption of CUET 2022 has drawn conclusions that cannot be stated as good or bad, as they purely depend upon the unique thought process of every person concerned.
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