Meghalaya: CM Conrad K Sangma to approach NTA to exempt state from CUET

Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma, on May 16 informed that Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma will raise the long-standing Common University Entrance Test (CUET) issue with the National Testing Agency (NTA).

He said, “Chief Minister has taken serious note (on the incident) and has decided to take up with the Government of India and NTA in the interest of our students.”

Rakkam informed that the state will approach the agency demanding it to either conduct the examinations again properly or exempt Meghalaya from it.

This comes after the administration of the CUET forced students to wait for nearly three hours beyond the scheduled time to begin their exams. 

Following the situation, a review meeting was chaired by the Meghalaya chief minister, officials of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU)  and the National Testing Agency (NTA).

Speaking to reporters, Rakkam A Sangma said, “Chief Minister has taken serious note (on the incident) and has decided to take up with the Government of India and NTA in the interest of our students,” further stating that the government will also write to the students appearing in the exam.

“We will be writing for those students, appearing in the CUET examination, to take admission in the NEHU itself and also to give a second chance and those students, who are appearing, to take admission in the colleges affiliated to NEHU, to give exemption this year again,” he added.

He also informed that as per NTA and NEHU officials, only one lady, one girl could not appear for the CUET examination yesterday. “However, there was some delay. There were some technical issues that happened due to biometrics. The capacity of each biometric was about 100 students and we were informed that only 7 biometric machines were given instead of 40-50 numbers (which was required). After the green signal from NTA, they went ahead without biometrics,” he added.

Rakkam assured the upcoming state university would be sorted, further adding, “Therefore, we are coming up with our own State University. Many of the colleges, which are affiliated to NEHU, can be given green signal to affiliate with the new Captain Williamson Sangma State University.”

Rakkam ascertained that there was lack of preparedness and coordination by the NTA. He said, “(During the meeting) NEHU officials informed us that it was at the eleventh hour, the NTA had informed the NEHU authority on May 14 at 6 pm that they should be ready for 2000 students but in the middle of the night, NTA then informed to be ready for another 4000 students. So they don’t have time to prepare because of the lack of coordination from NTA.”

On being asked, Rakkam said, “Because of this scenario, many students may not be able to do well. We will be requesting to give exemption again because now we don’t know how many students could not appear or be affected due to this, so we are waiting for figures and datas – particularly for students, who wanted to take admission in NEHU, they have been affected directly.”

He also said that in the past too, many students could not perform well, adding, “There are many students in the rural areas who have registered for CUET examination, so if the institutions goes for admission only with the CUET examination, many vacant seats will remain unfilled in the different institutions of the state.”

Earlier, the Voice of the People Party (VPP) called on the state government to abandon the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admissions and instead base them on Class 12 examination results. 

This demand follows what the VPP describes as a disastrous handling of the CUET at North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) on May 15, highlighting a lack of preparedness and responsibility from the National Testing Agency, the state government, and the NEHU administration.