Kota (Rajasthan): The Union Government in New Delhi Wednesday rules out merger of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) and Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE Main) with Common University Entrance Test (CUET) saying the idea is “premature and still in an early stage”.
The government has introduced Common University Entrance Test (CUET) from this year for admission in various undergraduate courses.
According to the University Grants Commission (UGC), the students successfully cracking the CUET will be eligible for admission in 90 different universities.
The universities that have agreed to grant admission based on CUET included Delhi University (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Jamia Millia Islamiah, Banaras Hindu University, besides 43 central universities across the country.
There were talks of the merger of NEET and JEE with the newly introduced CUET following its wide acceptance by the universities. The speculations gathered further momentum when University Grants Commission Chairman Jagadesh Kumar himself said that the two important medical and engineering entrance exams will be merged with the CUET.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan however ruled out these speculations saying the idea is still a concept and it will take at least two more years for any such move.
"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 in Kota during his one day visit to the city Tuesday.
“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”, Pradhan said while asking the students not to be afraid, as reported by news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).
On the increasing content in books from class 9 onwards so that students do not have to consult other books for competitive exams preparation, Pradhan said the new books under the New Education Policy-2020, would come out in the next two years.
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.
The minister also said that the government has envisioned setting up a 'digital university' in the country wherein students can pursue multi-disciplinary courses for dual degrees.
The minister also asked the students to give their suggestions on the content of the books and study material for the National Curriculum Framework Citizen Survey and assured them that their ideas would be considered.
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