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The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated Shiksha Sanskruti Utthan Nyas on Tuesday raised concern over alleged discrepancies in the provisional answer key of CUET-UG and sought reforms in the competitive examination system in the country with continuous feedback from stakeholders.
The remarks by the organisation headed by Dina Nath Batra come at a time when a day earlier, several students who appeared for the Common University Entrance Test for Undergraduate Admissions (CUET-UG) had alleged that several answers in the key released by the National Testing Agency (NTA) were incorrect. The organisation also raised concerns over making CUET-UG a single window for undergraduate admissions to all universities in India.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Devendra Singh, national convener of Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas for competitive exams, said the recent discrepancies in the answer keys of CUET-UG are a matter of “serious material” and it exposes the structural flaws in competitive exams.
“First of all it is necessary to consider whether all the State and Private Universities in the country, except the Central Universities need to be included in CUET – UG and PG examination or not. States have their own circumstances, the expectations of the students are different and the syllabus, availability of different courses is also different.”
“Moreover, the resources in state universities and private universities also vary. Therefore, keeping in view the diversity of the country, its huge population, inter-university variations, etc., it would not be wise to opt for a single examination for the entire university system of the country,” he said.
On the issue of discrepancies in the CUET-UG provisional answer key, Singh said that the institution or agency conducting the exam should seriously introspect as to why they are not able to give correct answers to 100-50 questions despite having the resources. He said that the problem of erroneous answer keys is prevalent from the Union Public Service Commission to the Staff Selection Commission of the states.
He suggested that learned and eminent academicians and professors should be involved in the entrance exam process and it should be made compulsory for them to prepare question papers and participate in the exam process. “There is a lot of difference in the standards of who is eligible to set question papers and who is not. The exam conducting agency should also review the old standards. Qualified professors, other experts and retired scholars should also be given ample opportunities to contribute in creating objective question banks,” he said.
The organisation demanded improvements in the examination system, standard of question papers, flaws in examination conduct, problems faced by students etc and said a system of continuous feedback from teachers, parents and students must be put in place.
“Periodic reviews should be carried out by eminent scholars of the country who have an in-depth understanding of the examination system so that these systems can evolve naturally and become exemplary rather than undergoing any revolutionary change overnight,” Singh said in the statement.
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