CUET: A futile exercise with an exclusivist agenda

Coaching centres will expand dramatically and marginalised students will be deprived of higher education as 'cracking' the test is an 'expensive' skill they can't afford

The University Grants Commission's (UGC) announcement on March 26 mandating all central universities to admit students solely through the centralised Common University Entrance Test (CUET) was a bolt from the blue to all stakeholders, particularly to the student community. Although the practice itself is not new, as about 14 universities had already adopted it, the directive seeking its full-fledged implementation was considered premature by many academicians.

Firstly, the approach of the CUET fails to recognise the vast diversity of our students' socio-cultural, economic and academic backgrounds. Secondly, the one-size-fits-all approach to examining students from across the disparate streams is fundamentally flawed. Lastly, with many students still struggling to cope with Covid-induced issues, an additional and hurriedly implemented national level test will only do more harm than good.

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Although officials in the UGC have attributed the reason for the urgency to adopt the new National Education Policy (NEP 2020) smoothly, perceptive observers will quickly sense that the UGC is under duress to conform with the ruling dispensation's push for one nation, one-everything policy.

Major features

The CUET is a computer-based, time-bound test with multiple-choice questions. Students' language skills will be tested in Section I through a reading comprehension exercise. Section II is a test on domain-specific knowledge. There are 27 subjects that students can choose from. In Section III, students' general knowledge, quantitative, logical and analytical reasoning will be examined. For all of these, students are expected to follow the NCERT XII syllabus. There is also negative marking for wrong answers.

Impact on students

There are differing views on the impact of the test. On the positive side, the entrance tests students are forced to take in the current scenario will be reduced. This may also invalidate the unrealistic and bizarre cut-offs some institutions gleefully enforce. It may even act as an 'equaliser' to the extensive variations seen in marks awarded by different school boards.

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However, aren't there better solutions to such problems rather than the imposition of one more nationalised test only to enrol 1.93 per cent of all students? The menace of high cut-offs can certainly be tackled through purposeful official interventions, as this abnormality is exclusive to very few institutions in Delhi. Variations in Class XII marks among the boards could be rationalised using a commonly accepted instrument to arrive at equivalence.

This practice is already being followed in many institutions while admitting students from foreign countries. The moot question, therefore, is, in the name of the CUET, is the UGC knowingly or unknowingly jeopardising and denying students their higher educational aspirations?

The CUET makes the Class XII board exam almost irrelevant for those who aspire to join central universities. It is yet another test similar to JEE and NEET that, in its very design, elimination is prioritised rather than the selection of meritorious students. In fact, the idea of examination through a homogenised time-bound mechanism, testing only the linguistic, logical and mathematical intelligence, is flawed.

The complete negation of the other important types of intelligence that are essentially required for meaningful interactions at the tertiary level is antithetical to the purpose of education itself. It is, for this reason, that world-class universities admit students through holistic, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional strategies.

This test adds an additional burden on students right after their XII board exams. That is not all. Unhealthy competition and anxiety levels will mount adversely, affecting their mental health. The number of dummy admissions in schools will rise as a result of the reduced importance of the board exams. Coaching centres will see a dramatic expansion, mostly catering to the privileged sections. Many marginalised students will be deprived of higher education as 'cracking' the test is an 'expensive' skill they can't afford.

More importantly, contradictory to the claim, the test offers limited freedom and flexibility in subject selection during the exam and after, restricting their aspirations. Students from the CBSE board will definitely have the edge over others, which defeats the tall claim that the CUET puts everyone on equal footing.

Above all, critical thinking, a lofty virtue in the NEP document, finds no relevance in such tests. Clearly, the outcome of such a grandiose exercise is the promotion of 'test-oriented' study and not knowledge-based inquiry or comprehensive learning - a pitiable consequence of our national obsession with exams.

This grand scheme may eventually include all higher educational institutions denting their autonomy further. The one nation, one test slogan is both thoughtless and reckless. Without establishing uniform common support systems for students, forcibly implementing a fallacious experiment is blatantly cruel.

In its current form, the CUET, with its pro-upper-class tilt, will further aid the elites and the privileged to dominate the higher education space. In the absence of fair representation, the health of the nation's overall development and prosperity will continue to be at peril.

(The author is Professor & Dean, School of Arts and Humanities Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.