Marks obtained in Class XII Board examinations will no longer play a role in the admission process at Delhi University which was earlier the sole criteria for admission.
A day after the University Grants Commission (UGC) made it mandatory for all 45 Central universities to admit students to undergraduate courses based on scores obtained in the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Academic Council of Delhi University on Tuesday passed a proposal that admissions will be based only on the scores obtained in the CUET.
Minimum eligibility
A report by a Standing Committee of the Academic Council said it would not be feasible to include any criterion on the marks obtained in the Board examinations. It added that in case the subject studied at the Class XII level is not mentioned in the CUET, the candidate must appear for a subject that is similar/closely related to the subject he/she had studied in Class XII. The minimum eligibility will now be a passing mark in the Class XII examination or an equivalent from a single recognised board.
Some members of the Academic Council, expressing dissent, said admission through the CUET result was an additional expenditure of parents and students towards coaching and therefore marginalised those coming from disadvantageous backgrounds.
They said admissions to the UG courses through entrance would mean complete erosion of Classes XI and XII, and wipe out the importance of formative assessment. Students, they said, might not want to study five subjects in any department in their most crucial years of school as they would focus on preparing for entrance tests.
‘Equal opportunities’
UGC Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar, while announcing that the CUET would be mandatory for UG admissions at all Central universities, had argued that the test would provide equal opportunities to candidates across the country from different Boards and those from rural and remote areas.
He said a single examination would reduce the financial burden on parents as students would not have to sit for multiple entrance examinations to study at a Central university.
NCERT syllabus
The CUET, which is a computer-based assessment, is scheduled to be conducted in the first week of July and will be based on the NCERT syllabus for Class XII. The test will have three sections.
Section 1A, which will be compulsory, will be in 13 languages and candidates can choose the language of their choice. Section 1B is optional and for students who want to opt for another language, apart from the ones that are a part of Section 1A.
Section 2 will consist of domain-specific subjects and a candidate can choose up to a maximum of six domains out of a choice of 27 options that they wish to pursue at the undergraduate level.
Section 3, which is optional, will comprise a general test which will be an aptitude test which the candidate will have to sit for only if the scores are desired by the university they are applying to. The complete details of the test, Mr. Kumar said, would be released by the NTA before the application window opens in the first week of April.
