New Delhi: Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to withdraw the proposed Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admissions in all Central universities.
In the letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Stalin termed the proposed exam as ‘regressive’ and ‘undesirable’ and called for the withdrawal of the same.
“This regressive step has clearly vindicated the consistent stand of our government which is based on the consensus across sections in Tamil Nadu that the introduction of NEET for MBBS admissions was not an isolated instance but a definitive prelude to the larger attempt of the Union Government to centralise higher education admissions. There is no doubt that this CUET, similar to the NEET, will side-line the diverse school education systems across the country, grossly undermine the relevance of overall development oriented long-form learning in schools and make students rely upon coaching centres for improving their entrance examination scores.”
Asserting that an NCERT syllabus-based entrance exam would place the majority of students, hailing from marginalised sections, in a disadvantageous position, Stalin wrote that most of the students in Tamil Nadu follow the state board syllabus and by forcing them to sit for an entrance test that is based on NCERT curriculum would be unfair and that all the students will not be provided with equal opportunities. This would, in turn, reduce the number of students from government schools in the central universities.
“The people of Tamil Nadu are apprehensive that like NEET, CUET also will be against the interests of the rural poor and socially marginalised students from the state,” the letter read.
Stalin added that such an entrance test would also enhance the mushrooming of coaching centres in the field of Humanities as well and in the long run, the pressure of the NCERT syllabus would undermine the state curriculum.
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