'Semester wasted' due to CUET 2022: JNU teachers demand withdrawal from exam

NEW DELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University's (JNU) participation in the Central Universities Entrance Test (CUET) has caused such a delay in admissions that the monsoon semester has been wasted, claimed JNU teachers.

The JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) have called for the withdrawal of the university from CUET amid a loss of teaching hours due to the delay in admissions. By September 12, JNU has "lost" over 100 teaching hours at the undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD level, JNUTA claimed.

The centralised exam was launched with CUET 2022, and admissions for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in all central universities are through CUET conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

The exams for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes were held between mid-July and the first week of September. NTA has not yet announced the results for either but the University Grants Commission chairman – and former JNU vice chancellor – M Jagadesh Kumar said the CUET UG 2022 result will be declared by September 15.

Teachers also said that the NTA’s withdrawal from conducting PhD entrance tests for 20 central universities has caused a lot of confusion and that it is likely that JNU will not have any PhD admission this year.

The JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA), in a statement on Monday, said that the delays in CUET 2022 has caused the loss of 160 hours of teaching over the seven weeks of delay at the undergraduate level. At the PG and PhD levels, there has been a loss of 112 hours of teaching hours.

JNU teachers said that over a 100 teaching hours have been lost so far (source: JNUTA)

“The monsoon semester 2022-23 is wasted since no admissions have taken place so far. This means truncated semesters for all the academic programmes resulting in a drastic fall in the quality of teaching. This is true for all the universities across the country, which opted for the CUET,” the JNUTA said.

Before the pandemic, JNU closed admissions by the end of August. Teachers said that this delay will force the universities to shorten the semesters and will affect the quality of teaching.

They said that the continued delays has created “uncertainty and despondency” among students and that opting out of the CUET for all programmes is “the only way forward”.

“It remains unclear as to when admissions to JNU will start and when classes for the UG programmes can begin. Such a time lag between students finishing their schooling and beginning their university learning on the national scale is simply inexcusable, as not only does it fritter away the intellectual energies and enthusiasm of eager young minds, it also creates uncertainty and despondency amongst them,” the JNUTA said.

JNUTA said that the delays will adversely affect marginalized groups. According to the statement from the teacher's group, 50 percent of all students in JNU are from rural areas, 50 percent are from families with an income level of Rs 12,000 per month and 45 percent are women.

NTA, PhD admissions

The teachers also criticised NTA for withdrawing from conducting PhD admissions. They claimed that due to such a decision this late in the academic year, all 83 PhD programmes in JNU will not have students this year.

They also said that 11 schools and centres, which only teach PhD, will not be able to teach at all. Teachers also pointed out that the other route to PhD admissions, that is the UGC—NET, has not been held for over 80 subjects for close to 15 months.

“JNU’s longest-duration admissions are at the research level and involve the lengthiest process. As late as in the third week of August 2022, NTA reneged on its undertaking to 20 Central universities, including JNU, that it would conduct a PhD-CUET, and has asked universities to make their own arrangements. JNU has not initiated any of the required statutory processes to discuss and determine the modalities of securing its PhD admissions,” the JNUTA said.

They also claimed that the hierarchy in supervision rules of the University Grants Commission (UGC), and the lack of promotions in JNU, resulted in a loss of 378 PhD seats in 2021-22 alone.

CUET 2022: No to MCQ

Teachers also criticized the practice of conducting exams in the multiple-choice questions (MCQ) format. They said that no university in the world conducts MCQ-based exams for its research programmes.

“The exclusive use of MCQs for admissions is not an academically valid practice in JNU faculty’s estimation. It is also not an accepted practice internationally,” the JNUTA said.

Teachers said that MCQs “have not really stood the test of fairness” whether in natural sciences or other streams.

The association said that it conducted a survey in 67 universities, which included 34 universities in Europe, 21 universities in the United States and 11 other universities across Asia, Australia and found that none of them had MCQ-based exams for their research programmes.

“The exclusive use of MCQs for admissions is not an academically valid practice in JNU faculty’s estimation. It is also not an accepted practice internationally,” the JNUTA said.

Teachers also said the CUET will cause an erosion of university autonomy and a destruction of the university Acts and that it will only help in creating multiple private coaching centres.