The Karnataka government has decided not to make the Common Entrance Test (CET) mandatory for candidates hoping to secure admission to B.Sc. courses.
Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan said the decision was taken on Tuesday as many second year pre-university (II PU) and college principals had pointed out that candidates who wanted to pursue Pure Sciences did not prepare for CET this academic year, and it would be unfair to expect them to start preparations now.
The Higher Education Department was mulling over making CET mandatory for admission to undergraduate science courses as the II PU examinations were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Colleges and universities must now consider the class 12 or II PU marks allotted by the respective boards to admit students,” an official added.
Though this brings relief to students, college managements and universities are confused about how to admit students as this year, all students have been deemed as pass and there will be more pressure on colleges for seats.
“We are not sure how II PU students will be graded. We want to ensure that our children get justice and a fair method is adopted during admissions,” said Sreekanth S., the parent of a II PU student.
T.M. Manjunath, president, Karnataka Government College Teachers' Association, wants the government to issue strict instructions to private college managements to not conduct their own entrance tests. “If this happens, many students will be forced to appear for multiple entrance tests,” he said.
But many colleges have already completed admissions based on their own entrance test or marks secured in class 10 and class 11 as well as internal assessment scores in class 12 or II PU, if made available by the respective colleges.
