The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Should the CET be scrapped?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 21, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Should the CET be scrapped?

V. Jayanth

Chennai: When the Tamil Nadu Government appointed a committee of experts, headed by former Vice- Chancellor M. Anandakrishnan, to look at the system of a Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to professional courses, its mandate was clear.

The Government wanted to scrap the CET and admit students on the basis of their Plus-Two marks, at least from the next academic year — 2007-08. To provide some transparency to the exercise, the committee has held a couple of public hearings. By and large, the feedback from the students and most of the parents appears to be "Stick to the CET." Of course, there are parents and Non-Government Organisations who have represented to the panel to do away with the CET, as it was an unnecessary burden on the students — to take a second test on the same syllabus as the Higher Secondary examinations of the State Board.

Mandate

Given the Government's stance and the mandate to the panel, it may have very little choice but to recommend the abolition of the CET, conducted over the years by Anna University in the name of the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination (TNPCEE).

But it has to satisfy two parties who are deeply connected or concerned with it — the student community at large and the Supreme Court of India itself.

It must be remembered that in a sequence of judgments over the years, the Supreme Court made it repeatedly clear that any admission to professional courses will have to be on the basis of a CET. Even in the case of private self-financing colleges, the apex court ruled that they too must adopt a merit-based transparent system of admission that included a CET — this could be conducted through an association of colleges or they could adopt the CET conducted by the State too.

Sources explain that the objective of setting up an experts' committee is to study the issue threadbare, hold public hearings and submit a report to the Government.

Decision

On the basis of that report, the Government can take a decision and then approach the Supreme Court to consider the proposition in the light of the panel's recommendations.

Aside from the issue of the students' views, the major question that led to the apex court's order was the fact that students from different streams of education join the professional courses.

As such, they cannot be equated on the basis of just their higher secondary or Plus-Two marks alone.

Though some institutions have tried the naturalisation process to bring the marks on par, it is perhaps a CET that can provide an equal footing to all these students — from the Central Board, ISC or from other States.

It remains to be seen what the Anandakrishnan panel will suggest to convince the apex court that the CET can be scrapped. But the students are still hoping that the Supreme Court will stand by its earlier order and insist on the CET.

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