There are no plans to merge engineering entrance exam JEE and medical entrance exam NEET with the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for next two years, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.
He said the merger of exams is currently only a "concept" and not "decision", adding that students should not be afraid. University Grants Commission Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar had last month said JEE and NEET will be merged with the CUET in future.
"Merger of NEET, JEE and CUET is currently a concept, a thought, and the government has not yet decided upon it in principle," Pradhan said while interacting with students, mostly hailing from his home state Odisha, of Allen Career Institute here during his one-day visit to the city on Tuesday.
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"There is no proposal of merging NEET, JEE with CUET and it will take at least two years to decide upon the concept of a merger of the three exams and to conduct a combined test," he added. The UGC Chairman had told PTI last month that glitches in CUET-UG will not affect the expansion plans of the crucial exam but the merger will not be "hurried up".
"As per the NEP, the plan is to have a common entrance exam to reduce the burden on students of appearing in multiple entrances. “However, we won't hurry up to introduce it as we need to plan well. It is a massive exercise and our focus is on planning and taking forward from the lessons we have learnt while conducting CUET," Jagadesh had said.
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"The commission will set up an expert committee which will study all important entrance exams being conducted in the country as well as abroad. If we have to introduce the exam next year, the preparation has to start now considering the massive exercise and the different disciplines involved," Kumar had said.
The debut edition of CUET-UG began in July and has been marred with glitches prompting the National Testing Agency (NTA) to cancel exams at multiple centres. With 14.9 lakh registrations, the CUET, the common gateway for undergraduate admissions in all central universities, is now the second biggest entrance exam in the country, surpassing JEE-Main’s average registration of nine lakh.
NEET-UG is the biggest entrance test in India with an average of 18 lakh registrations. While JEE-Mains is a Computer-Based Test (CBT) conducted twice a year, NEET is conducted in pen and paper mode.
During his interaction with the students, Pradhan said implementation of NEP-2020 has started and books for the five-year foundation course called Bal Vatika (kindergarten) will be in schools by February 2023.
Content in books from class 9 onwards has been beefed up apparently so that students do not have to consult other books for competitive exams preparation. The minister said these new books will come out in two years.
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The minister said the central government has envisioned setting up of a digital university in the country where students can pursue multi-disciplinary courses for dual degrees. Meanwhile, the minister asked the students to give their suggestions on the content of the books and study material for the National Curriculum Framework Citizen Survey and said their ideas would be considered.
Tens of thousands of students from across the country get enrolled in several coaching institutes in Kota for preparation of various exams every year.
(With PTI Inputs)
