Ending trauma: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Government has abolished the Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to medical and engineering courses from this year. According to a new policy announced by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday, admissions to professional courses will, hereafter, be made solely on the basis of marks obtained in the Plus Two examination and the rule of reservation.

The new policy covers admissions to B.E, B.Tech, B.Arch and allied courses, M.B.B.S, B.D.S, B.Pharm and allied courses, B.Sc (Agriculture) and allied courses, B.VSc, B.L and all other professional courses for which entrance examinations were hitherto held. There will be no addition of entrance examination marks for entering professional courses. Also, the practice of allowing students to take improvement examinations has been discontinued.

However, the single window system of counselling for professional courses will continue and counselling sessions will start as per the earlier schedule in July.

`Simple, transparent'

Terming the policy as a "simple, straightforward and transparent system," Ms. Jayalalithaa said, in a press release, that the need for the policy arose as "the CET has now become a traumatic experience for parents and children as it appears to determine at one stroke the future of the child. ... In particular, students from rural areas are affected as the entrance examination operates against their chances to gain admission. If the Plus Two marks alone are relied upon, rural students would stand to get their due share in admissions."

Further, "the entrance examination system has encouraged a pernicious system of `teaching shops' oriented towards urban areas merely to capture high marks in the entrance test. Even the effort to provide a reservation for rural students has not been upheld by the High Court," Ms. Jayalalithaa said.

Having to attend special classes for entrance examinations immediately after the Plus Two course resulted in the students "having to carry an impossible load leading to great anguish and frustration."

Taking into consideration the "requirements of all parents and children [particularly] those from rural areas," the Government found that the "change of system cannot brook any further delay." The new system would make education "meaningful and a platform for real growth and development," she said.

Fresh prospectus

A fresh prospectus would be issued stating that the Plus Two examination was the entrance examination and those who had applied earlier would be treated as applicants under the new system. New applicants can also file their applications and a revised time schedule would be issued separately.

The improvement examination system had been done away with as it had "led to a problematic situation in admissions where a large percentage of seats are cornered by a small number of students who are in a position to take such improvement examination," the Chief Minister said.

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