New Delhi: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan wrote to his Tamilnadu counterpart, K Ponmudy, stating that the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) doesn’t infringe upon the rights of the States/UTs and education being matter of Concurrent list enables the Central government also to take measures for development of education in the country.
In his letter, the Union Minister also stated that CUET aims at eliminating the need for taking coaching, offers choice of 13 languages as the medium and reduces financial burden while increasing access.
It is to be noted Tamilnadu Assembly recently adopted a resolution tabled by Chief Minister M K Stalin urging the Centre to drop the test. As on Sunday, over 3.5 lakh candidates have registered for the test.
The Union Minister contended that as against the summative assessment which encourages the coaching culture, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 emphasises on formative assessment. ‘The exam is in the interest of the disadvantaged groups. Students may apply to more than one university according to their choice with one application form, thereby reducing financial burden and increasing access,’ he said.
Pradhan added: ‘They have the choice to appear in the entrance exam in any of the 13 languages with a choice of selecting examination centres from hundreds of examination centres across the country… here is no case for infringing upon the rights of the States/ UTs.’