CUET mandatory for admission in NEHU

SHILLONG, MAY 3: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday said the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) will be mandatory for students who are applying for admission in the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) and colleges within its two campuses at Shillong and Tura.

“NEHU has got a law college, agriculture etc, so anything within the NEHU’s two campuses, students will have to appear for the CUET,” Sangma told reporters.

The chief minister said students who are applying for admission in affiliated colleges, including private and government aided, will not have to appear for the CUET.

“This means that the colleges that have nothing to do with the admission within NEHU itself do not have to appear for the exams at least for this year, next year and even for the years to come,” he added.

His statement came a day after the Centre has agreed to exempt colleges, which are privately run or are aided by the state government, in Meghalaya from the CUET.

Sangma said that he had taken up with the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan during a meeting in New Delhi.

“When I met the Minister I explained to him that the CUET exam is being made compulsory for all colleges which are affiliated to the central university. Now there are colleges which are 200 kilometers away from NEHU and students in those areas may never apply or even go to NEHU or have the intention to be in the college in their district or constituency or in their area. Therefore, why should those students have to appear for this central exams and that’s why the minister agrees that all the colleges that are privately run or funded by the state government, students who are applying in those colleges will not have to appear for the CUET and he said except the ones who are planning to go to central universities or the ones planning to be in some colleges in NEHU,” he said.

When asked, Sangma said slowly and steadily decisions have to be taken in the future. “We will decide but as of now and the years to come, the colleges which are not directly under NEHU, students will not have to appear for the CUET exam.”

By Our Reporter