DU VC defends CUET, says cut-off system did not offer equal opportunities to students

New Delhi: The cut-off system did not offer equal opportunities to all students but the CUET will judge them on equal parameters and will not be disadvantageous for those who studied under boards that are not lenient in awarding marks, Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh said on Thursday.

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The registration for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for undergraduate courses in 45 central universities commenced on Wednesday (April 6).

"The CUET is a transparent, entrance test-based system and every student will be given an equal opportunity. The prior system (cut-off) was not giving equal opportunities to the students," Singh told PTI in an interview. Noting that the previous system gave an undue advantage to those who studied under boards that had a lenient marking system, he said all students should be assessed on similar parameters.

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"The earlier system was not favouring those who came from strict or moderate boards. A country like India has 30 to 40 state boards, every board has its own uniqueness and we do respect that. But students should be measured on similar parameters," Singh said. However, critics have said the CUET will spark off the coaching culture and will be disadvantageous for students from boards other than the CBSE since the test syllabus will be mirrored with the NCERT syllabus.

"Our objective as a university is that we should provide equal opportunities. I do not think students will require coaching classes because the question paper will be easy for someone who has studied the Class-12 syllabus well. "These questions should come with reasonable difficulty and for someone who has studied well in Class 12, it should not be difficult," Singh said.

Talking about the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus, he said most of the students study the same curriculum in Class 12. "Only time will tell (how the test pans out). But the NCERT is the right choice since it is studied majorly," he added.

A section of academicians is of the opinion that the CUET should have been pushed to the next year since students faced a lot of uncertainty in the last two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. But Singh defended the move, saying "this is the right time to conduct the CUET".

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"Everyone suffered during the pandemic. If we do it next year, the type of issues will be different, the gravity will be different. The entire country has suffered due to the pandemic and the advantages and disadvantages will be there for everyone," he added. Others have opined that the CUET will prove to be advantageous for students with a science background as they will be able to opt for humanities and commerce subjects.

Under the cut-off system, till 2020, students faced a deduction of five per cent marks for changing streams but it was subsequently done away with. "The deduction was done based on the fact that the science students score more than the humanities students. But under this system, the percentile will be calculated," Singh said.

For instance, if the highest score is 60 in science, the student will be given a 100 percentile. It will be the same for a history student. If a history student scores 50 and that is the highest score, he will be given a 100 percentile, Singh explained. "In fact, this system will bridge the gap," he asserted.