S Venkatesan, Member of Parliament from Madurai, wrote to the Secretary of Department of Higher Education on Sunday, August 28, after a student from Madurai was allotted an exam centre in Lakshadweep for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET). The letter said that Logeswar, the student, Logeswar, had applied to the Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN) in Tiruvarur and had been asked to verify the examination centre one day before the test.
The letter said, “I don’t know how many candidates from Tamil Nadu have been allotted a centre in Lakshadweep. It will create hardships for them for making travel arrangements and on the side of expenses also” (sic).
He asked the Union government to intervene and change the centres of such students to Tamil Nadu so that they can “write the examination peacefully and comfortably without much ordeals.”
The CUET for admission to undergraduate courses in central universities is being conducted at 489 centres in over 250 cities across India and nine cities abroad. UGC Chairman Kumar had in March announced that CUET scores will be the basis for admission to 45 central universities which can fix their minimum eligibility criteria. With 14.9 lakh registrations, the CUET is now the second-biggest entrance exam in the country, surpassing the JEE-Main's average registration of nine lakh.
Apart from central universities, 12 state universities, 11 deemed universities, and 19 private universities have applied to participate in the first edition of CUET-UG for admissions in the academic session 2022-23. Introduced in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, CUET is based on the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) curriculum, which is prescribed in schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). While the Class 12 board exam results were the main criteria for admission to undergraduate courses so far, this year onwards, admissions to 90 universities will happen based on the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) score.