Srinagar: The government has announced that the students, who could not appear in the recently held Common University Entrance Test (CUET) 2023 due to allotment of examination centres in distant towns and cities, shall be given an opportunity to take admission in subjects and colleges of their choice.
Principal Secretary, Education, Alok Kumar, while conveying this information, said that the CUET, as per the NEP 2020, is a standardized entrance test conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) that aims to streamline the admission process for undergraduate and postgraduate courses being offered by universities across the country. This test will assess the knowledge, aptitude and skills of the applicants, providing a fair and equitable evaluation platform for all the candidates. Last year, more than 200 universities (including 47 central universities) participated in the CUET.
The process will give an opportunity to the students from J&K to take admission in prestigious universities and colleges of the country. The Higher Education Department of J&K has taken strenuous efforts for implementation of CUET for the academic session 2023, following the guidelines outlined in the NEP 2020, and government’s commitment to inclusivity, he said.
A total of 87,309 unique candidates have been registered from the UT of Jammu and Kashmir for the CUET (UG) 2023. The examination centres were randomly allocated based on availability of requisite infrastructure within the geographical boundaries of J&K and the exam dates were announced by the NTA, Kumar said, adding however that some students were allotted centres outside the UT of J&K.
“Taking cognizance of the peculiar situation and resentment against the same at the time of scheduled G-20 event in Kashmir after the intervention of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, NTA deferred the CUET (UG) examination for the students of J&K and implemented a centre reallocation process exclusively for J&K students and issued new dates for conducting the examination,” Kumar informed.
He said in order to save the travel and logistical challenges faced by students while appearing for CUET (UG) 2023 in the examination centres located outside the UT of J&K, the department augmented the requisite infrastructure in the shortest possible time.
“After a thorough examination, it has come to the notice of the department that some students from Jammu division, after reallocation of centres were still allotted centres outside the UT of J&K and had discrepancies in the examination dates in certain subject combinations,” he said.
Allaying the fears of the students community in this regard, the Principal Secretary assured that sufficient opportunity would be given to such candidates for admission in the under-graduate programmes in various Degree Colleges of the UT based on their merit in the 12th class examination.
