BENGALURU: The state government’s proposal to bring under the CET admissions to all science programmes, including BSc courses, has put students in a spot as many of them are not prepared for any exam given the pandemic disruptions.
Abhishek Girish, a II PU student of MES PU College and BSc aspirant, said it’s not fair that the idea is announced so late into the academic year.
“I was initially preparing for JEE, but later realised engineering is not my cup of tea.
I want to focus on pure sciences and therefore stopped CET coaching.
The last-minute announcements can get stressful.
We were preparing for our board exams, now we have to shift to CET,” he rued.
The government, however, said the talks are only in the initial stages.
“It was a thought that came up at today’s meeting with officials.
Since so many other programmes like farm sciences, naturopathy and yoga are already under the umbrella of CET, why not stretch it to other science programmes too? We’ll have a separate rank list for degree programmes,” higher education minister CN Aswhath Narayan said.
“However, these are only initial rounds of consultation and more deliberations will be made before any decision is made,” he added.
The minister said there will be no eligibility criteria in this proposed CET.
“This year, we’re expecting an additional one-third population of II PUC pass students.
We’ll have to manage the supply and demand in colleges.
Students need not worry.
They have twoand-a-half months to prepare.
And programmes like Get-CETGo are available,” he said.
While students have expressed concern on the last-minute announcement, there have been mixed reactions from other stakeholders.
“There are only a few who take BSc out of passion.
Usually, the cream goes into medicine and engineering.
The next set goes to veterinary and agriculture.
Students who do not get through any of these courses end up joining BSc.
This is true in a large majority of cases.
Those who join BSc in government colleges want to pursue BEd, and in some top colleges usually prefer a post-graduation abroad…
If they’re already unable to crack CET, what is the point in making it mandatory for them and creating yet another hurdle?” asked a science lecturer in Maharani Cluster University.
Ali Khwaja, counsellor and founder director of Banjara Academy, said: “There are already seats vacant for BSc in many colleges.
The government should be promoting pure sciences and not creating another hurdle for students joining it.”