Govt yet to decide on online CET; unlikely this year

The Common Entrance Test (CET) for professional courses is unlikely to go online this year as the proposal is yet to get approval from the government. The plan is aimed at bringing in transparency and making it hassle-free.

Further, the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) has begun preparations to hold the CET in the offline mode.

Announcing the CET results for the academic year 2018-2019, the then higher education minister G T Devegowda had announced that all stages of CET-2020 would be conducted online, from application to the examination.

However, to date, no decision has been taken at the government level, according to officials. Meantime, KEA is all set to announce the CET-2020 calendar of events by the third week of December.

An official from KEA told DH, “It is unlikely that we will go online this year. Even if we announce it now, in a week’s time, it would come as a shocker to the students and parents.”

According to official sources from KEA, they need at least two lakh computers to conduct the online examination.

“There is no scarcity of infrastructure to conduct online examination. But the exam should be publicised much before the exam, by announcing it at the commencement of the academic year and start preparing the students for the same,” said an official. Every year, around 2.1 lakh students register for CET. Another reason for not going online this year is lack of practice sessions for students from rural areas, who form the majority.

“The online mode should be student-friendly, especially for those from rural areas. There should be enough practice sessions, before putting them on the online mode for the CET,” officials said.

However, KEA is conducting online examinations for various departmental recruitments. Currently, KEA is preparing for the recruitment examination for KSRTC technical staff and it will conducted online only. For this, KEA had received over 30,000 applications.