CET for Std XI admissions not for all? State mulls option

Nagpur: Even as the state education department firms up plans to conduct a common entrance test (CET) for Std XI admissions, sources said officials may go back to the drawing board once again. A highly placed source in the education department said they are mulling the option of holding CET only for those colleges where demand exceeds seat availability.
“If we look at the entire state, then there are hardly 40 or 50 Std XI institutes where students struggle to get admissions. So, we are discussing whether there really is need to conduct CET for every institute or we can make it optional for certain institutes. We are discussing it within the department and will take a decision soon,” the official said.
Earlier this month, the state education department had conducted an online survey to guage opinion regarding conduct of CET. Maharashtra State Council fo Educational Research & Training (MSCERT), which conducted the survey and analyzed the responses, found that majority of the respondents were in favour of a CET. The survey was open to students, parents and academics.
While the CET’s decision is still pending, majority of the decision makers in the education department are pushing for it. In the midst of this, the issue regarding need for a statewide CET came to fore.
Another education official, who is not part of the decision-making team, said CET does not make sense. “Over a lakh of seats remain vacant in Maharashtra because of oversupply. The entire purpose of CET is to select the best candidates when demand exceeds supply. But here in Nagpur alone, we see 18,000 seats on an average going vacant ever year. Conducing CET for IITs makes sense because only 13,000-odd seats are available for lakhs of applicants. When everyone in Maharashtra is guaranteed admission, then why conduct CET?” the official said.
But, state education officials do have some valid reasons to think of a CET. An education department employee said, “SSC exams have been cancelled this year so there will be variations in internal marks to be given. To make sure that Std XI admissions are done fairly, CET seems a logical choice.”
So far, no policy for SSC’s internal evaluation has been decided yet.