Urge Centre to scrap CUET for central universities: OPS to TN Govt

Chennai: AIADMK coordinator and former chief minister O Panneerselvam on Monday urged the DMK government to prevail upon the Union Government for taking steps to scrap entrance exams to get admission to central universities and its affiliated colleges.

"At the time when the State is struggling to scrap NEET, the Centre's announcement to conduct a common entrance test has disgruntled the students, parents, and academicians," the AIADMK leader said in a statement.

Pointing out that students would be admitted to the central universities based on the common entrance test as a part of the National Education Policy (NEP) and Class 12 marks will not be considered, Panneerselvam said though the DMK government has opposed the move, it was reported that registration process to appear for the common entrance test have already started.

"From this move, it was made it clear that common entrance test will be conducted to get admissions to the central universities and its affiliated colleges this year," he said adding that if this continues, in future, entrance exams will not only be conducted regularly but also Class 12 marks will be made invalid.

Stating that the common entrance test would severely affect the students, especially from the rural areas, the deputy leader of the opposition said, "The DMK government should take immediate steps to stop it at the beginning or otherwise it would be like NEET, which is at present affecting the students hailing from poor economic backgrounds in rural areas".

"By keeping in mind as this is the right time to stop the exam without any further delay," he said. He added that students and educationists were expecting that the DMK would take steps in this regard.

Panneerselvam said, "Therefore, the DMK government should put pressure on the Centre for taking measures to stop the proposed Central University Entrance Test (CUET)".