What’s next? Students await clarity on CET
MUMBAI: Results for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams were announced by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) on Friday afternoon. While students were still struggling to access individual results till late evening, more are now worried about what lies next.
With the stress of the common entrance test (CET) scheduled to be held on or before August 21 looming over their heads, students as well as schools and colleges are waiting for an official notification from the government to clarify all doubts.
“These past few weeks we’ve been studying hard to prepare for CET. But both exam paper pattern and syllabus is so new to us that we are not sure which chapters to focus on and which topics to exclude. The past year has been a roller-coaster ride with several ups and downs, and this journey still does not end with our results,” said 16-yearold Riddhi Parikh, who scored 94.2%. In the last week of June, nearly a month after school education minister Varsha Gaikwad announced that admissions to first-year junior college courses will be based on a CET, a government resolution (GR) was released.
According to the GR, an optional CET exam based solely on the SSC syllabus, consisting of multiple-choice questions (MCQS) for 100 marks will be conducted. This exam will be open to first-year junior college (FYJC) aspirants from all boards. Those who do not want to opt for the physical entrance exam will be marked according to their performance in the internal assessment of Class 10 results.
“Students appearing for the optional CET exam will be given
first preference during admissions to FYJC. After these admissions are completed, the remaining vacant seats in junior colleges will be allotted to those students who do not appear for the entrance exam,” said Gaikwad.
The decision to conduct a CET exam for FYJC aspirants was taken to bring about uniformity and comparability in class admissions, Gaikwad had added.
Many, however, are still unsure if the CET exam based on the syllabus of a single education board is fair to all students. “The CET exam might be a good way to gauge a student but it is unfair to students of other school education boards who will now have to study a new syllabus altogether. After the debacle of result announcement by the state board, will they be ready to conduct a CET exam for lakhs of students within the next five weeks?” asked the principal of a south Mumbai college.
City junior colleges are currently busy updating the internal marks of Class 12 students. “Teachers are reporting to duty almost every day to ensure Class 12 results are announced soon,” said Marie Fernandes, principal of St Andrew’s College, Bandra.