The Karnataka government announced on Tuesday, June 8, that the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (CET) will be conducted on August 28 and 29, 2021. Addressing the media, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Higher education minister CN Ashwath Narayan said that registration for the exam will begin on June 15, 2021 and for admissions to undergraduate professional courses, only CET marks will be considered, and Pre-University Course marks will not be considered. "The CET exam will take place on August 28 and 29. Each subject will carry 60 marks," CN Ashwath Narayan said at a press conference on Tuesday.
While CET marks are considered for professional courses, this year, the CET marks will also be considered for Bachelor of Sciences (BSc) admissions. So those seeking admissions in colleges for BSc will also require to sit for the CET. Till now, the admissions for professional courses such as engineering and medical were based on consideration of both second PU and CET or NEET. Now, only CET marks will be considered for admissions as Pre-University examinations have been cancelled in the state. The government said that the exam pattern of KCET 2021 will remain the same.
Karnataka Minister CN Ashwath Narayan said that the government will be asking boards to reduce the eligibility ranking criteria. The minister noted that there may be a 30 percent increase in the number of students who graduated from Class 12 since no exams were conducted and that the government is preparing to meet these additional needs so that all students are admitted to colleges and they all get into the courses they want according to eligibility criteria.
The Karnataka government last week decided that second-year pre-university (PU) examinations for the current academic year will be cancelled and the students will be assessed on the basis of their first year PU marks.
The state government had then announced that the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination will be held and that it will likely be in the third week of July. The Karnataka government had said that for SSLC examinations — students will only have two examinations, one on core subjects (Science, Maths, Social Sciences) and one on languages.
The Karnataka government’s decision comes days after the Union Government announced that Class 12 board examinations will be cancelled, and many state governments followed suit, cancelling board exams in their states as well.