TN Minister Ponmudi Opposes CUET For UG Admissions, Says Move Aimed At Denying Education To Underprivileged Students

CUET is a mandatory common entrance test for UG admissions in all central universities.

Students attending an exam (Image for representation/ABP Nadu)

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister Ponmudi conveyed the stand of Tamil Nadu government against the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) and said that conducting entrance tests would only deny education to the underprivileged students.

In a press release, Ponmudi said, "If students will only be admitted with marks received in the entrance tests instead of the marks received in Class 12 exams then it will only benefit coaching centers. It is also contradictory to conduct an entrance test for UGs admissions even after training students to achieve the required education level to join the institutions."

"The move just means that it's an effort to curb underprivileged students from getting an education," he said. 

Further, the Minister said that the Union government while mulling on new policies in education, which is under concurrent list, should consult the state governments. 

"However, it's unacceptable that the Centre without discussing about these developments with state governments has been implementing the policies independently. This is against the rights of the state," he said. 

Therefore, the Minister demanded the Centre to move education from concurrent list to state list. He also said that the Centre should get back the announcement of CUET.

CUET is a mandatory common entrance test for UG admissions in all central universities and CUET will not carry any weightage of Class 12 board exams. This year, CUET is scheduled to take place in the first week of July.