Tamil Nadu   

Rural students not for Common Entrance Test

V. Jayanth

A SAMPLE survey on the need for a Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to professional courses has thrown up results on expected lines — it has pointed to a clear urban-rural divide. While 80 per cent of urban students surveyed want a CET, a whopping 99 per cent of rural students do not favour it.

Major reasons

The major reasons for urban students seeking a CET are: It is a free and transparent method of assessment; gives a clear picture of the student's aptitude; and ranking will be a problem without a CET, given the number of centums that the Plus-Two examinations offer in most subjects.

A majority of the rural students sampled have only one reason to oppose a CET — the costs involved, both in coaching and payment for the test itself.

This seems to be particularly true of boys and girls in the Government, Corporation and local body schools, who cannot even think of joining a private school.

In this survey, conducted by Salem-based Turning Point India, about 3,000 students in the Tiruchi-Namakkal-Salem-Periyar and Coimbatore belt were asked to fill up a questionnaire on the pros and cons of a CET. Some of the urban students had even come to the conclusion that it was not worth discussing because the Supreme Court had already settled the issue and the Medical and Technical Education Councils may not permit the States to scrap a CET.

Most, if not all, of the rural students felt they cannot afford the preparations for a CET and they lacked the environment conducive to such preparations.

Suggestion

A common suggestion that came up from the students was the restoration of a `rural quota'. If a CET was inevitable, the rural students wanted it to be held at the end of the Plus-Two board examinations itself, instead of having to apply for it separately, or prepare for a CET all over again.

As an alternative, the Government could waive the application or entrance fee for the CET for rural students, and also offer free coaching to them before the tests.

It is still not known what the experts committee, headed by former vice-chancellor M. Anandakrishnan will recommend on this sensitive issue. But, the students and parents alike are hoping that the State Government will announce its policy at least by November this year.

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