JOIN US Delhi University’s Department of English has decided to scrap Combined Aptitude Test for English (CATE) this year, which was conducted in over 20 colleges till last year. Under the three-year graduation system, English (H) was one of the most sought-after courses in the varsity and is taught in over 40 colleges.
A teacher involved in last year’s CATE said the department will send its proposal to the university soon.
Recently, the university had said CATE should be scrapped this year as the varsity is undergoing change due to implementation of the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP).
Keeping this in mind, the process of admission should be made easy, DU had stated.
“Last year, 21 colleges conducted the test. However, this year around 10 colleges were ready to conduct it. With the FYUP in place, there has been a restructuring of courses. We need to get an idea this year about how things are working out,” said an English teacher.
Teachers of the English department feel that CATE used to be beneficial for students as both board results and test marks used to be calculated for eligibility in the course, thus bringing down cut offs. CATE was started four years ago in the varsity.
Teachers are hoping that next year CATE can be brought back. “We got wonderful students through CATE. In FYUP, around a quarter of the English papers and other topics are included, which makes it tough to evaluate,” added the teacher.
Admissions to the courses in FYUP will now be on the basis of marks achieved in class 12.