Last year’s learning helped us deliver the test better this year. JEE and NEET have a fixed pattern and these exams are confined to limited subjects. But CUET is all encompassing — science, humanities, commerce. For such an exam, to make questionnaires, understand the pattern of from where the majority of candidates will come and for which subjects makes it a complex process and multi-dimensional. Since we were conducting it for the first time last year, glitches happened in some places. But barring a few places, it has been delivered successfully this year and the NTA team did a good job. Also, institutional participation has increased significantly.
NEET is being conducted based on the Supreme Court’s direction. After seven years of experience, NEET is now a credible entrance exam accepted across states. This year’s result is proof. A few institutions and some people are opposing it, especially in Tamil Nadu. However, their opposition is not based on any reasoning. It is political opposition and students of the state have responded to that by topping the charts and excelling in the exam. Students have demolished the opposition.
There is a deliberate attempt by a small group which considers itself omniscient. They have an agenda to defeat any reform. NCERT is an autonomous body and it was felt during the pandemic that the content should be reduced. The syllabus was reduced from the 2021-22 academic year and two batches of students have already studied it. Why are they criticising now? They have some motive. Their design is to deny Indian students modern education. My understanding is that NCERT has reduced repetitive content. In history too, content which was comparatively more was reduced. Periodically, NCERT adds or deletes certain topics, which is a routine activity. To make a hue and cry of this is motivated and a reflection of their isolated thinking. The government and PM Modi are determined to decolonise the education system and make it worthy of 21st century standards as well as rooted in Indianness. This is an orchestrated group whom the country has rejected. But this is democracy, people can express their opinion.
Certainly, after a gap of 34 years, a national education policy came. In the last four decades, the world has changed immensely. If there was one sector which needed change, it was education and NEP addressed that aspiration. The work started in 2014. India has always played a lead role in global development. India has become even more relevant now. For example, in emerging areas like digitisation, India is a global leader. India is in a leadership position in sustainability. India’s role in changing geopolitics has been enhanced significantly. While we are playing such a key role globally, it becomes imperative to bring the education ecosystem of the country to that level. Therefore, NEP is a philosophical document looking into the changing global scenario and global expectations. NEP is one of the major achievements of the Modi government.
