Following the UGC rule requiring CUET for undergraduate admission, IIT-Guwahati pass out student Timjim K Momin, who is now the President of District youth Congress, North Garo Hills has recommend that the state government should seek a buffer period of at least two years or more to implement in Meghalaya, so that the current batch will not be affected and the upcoming batch will be adequately prepared for the exam and at the same time to seek for unique cut-off for Northeast students which are economically and educationally backward compared with other parts of India.
This is what he has to say about the CUET:
Being a backward class student at IIT-Guwahati, I know and understand how difficult it is for north east kids to manage and compete with central students.
Because the North East is lagging behind the rest of India, implementing CUET right away will cause our intermediate kids to fall behind for another two to three years, which is unfair.
Normally, students planning to write any central entrance exam need a year or two to prepare for the exam, so how can we expect our students from remote areas, who haven’t even had basic awareness or advice about the exam until now, to prepare for the exam in two or three months?
Are our students psychologically prepared for CUET? Mental preparation is the most crucial component of any qualifying exam.
Is our government training teachers and students from the ground up to prepare for exams and conduct exams? This is the burning question of the hour.
Because Meghalaya, particularly in the Garo Hills Region, lacks a competitive atmosphere in comparison to other states, even pass percentage of students who take a central competitive exam every year is less than 10%, how can we expect our children to pass in huge numbers with present situation?
In remote areas, school infrastructure and administration must first be improved in order to conduct and provide excellent education in preparation for the exam.
Of course, CUET will bring positive changes and motivation to the lives of students in our state, encouraging them to pursue top central universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University, Banaras Hindu University, University of Hyderabad, University of Delhi, Jamia Millia Islamia, and others, but implementing it immediately for economically backward states such as Meghalaya and the north east is not the best approach.
More than 90% of Meghalaya’s undergraduate colleges are affiliated with NEHU, a central university, and since there is no state’s university yet, it would be preferable if the state government sought a two-year or longer buffer period before implementing CUET in NEHU. So that the current batch will not be affected and the upcoming batch will be adequately prepared for the exam.
