According to JNU teachers, the monsoon semester was wasted due to Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) participation in the Central Universities Entrance Test (CUET).
The JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) has requested that the university leave CUET since the delay in admissions has resulted in a loss of teaching hours. According to JNUTA, as of September 12, JNU had “lost” more than 100 teaching hours at the undergraduate, graduate, and PhD levels. Admissions for undergraduate and graduate programmes in all central institutions are made using the National Testing Agency’s centralised exam, which was introduced with CUET 2022. (NTA). Between the middle of July and the first week of September, exams for both undergraduate and graduate programmes were given.
NTA has not yet released the results for either, however, M. Jagadesh Kumar, the chairperson of the University Grants Commission and a former vice chancellor of JNU, stated that the CUET UG 2022 result would be released by September 15. Teachers said that there will likely be no PhD admissions at JNU this year due to the NTA’s decision to stop administering entrance exams for PhDs at 20 major universities. According to a statement released by the JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) on Monday, the undergraduate level has lost 160 hours of instruction due to the seven-week delay in CUET 2022. There have been 112 fewer teaching hours at the PG and PhD levels.
Since there have been no admissions thus far, the monsoon semester 2022–23 is wasted. This entails shortened semesters for all academic programmes, which will significantly lower the standard of instruction. All universities in the nation that choose the CUET can attest to this, according to the JNUTA. JNU stopped accepting new students by the end of August prior to the outbreak. Teachers claimed that this delay would force colleges to cut their semester lengths, which would lower the standard of instruction. They claimed that students’ “uncertainty and depression” as a result of the ongoing delays is why opting out of the CUET for all programmes is “the only path ahead.”
“The start date for JNU admissions and the start of sessions for UG programmes are yet uncertain. The JNUTA stated that such a delay between students completing their secondary education and starting their university studies on a national level is simply unacceptable because it not only wastes the intellectual energies and enthusiasm of eager young minds but also breeds uncertainty and pessimism in them. According to JNUTA, the delays will have a negative impact on disadvantaged people. The teacher’s organisation reported that 50% of all students at JNU are from rural areas, 50% originate from families with an income of less than Rs 12,000 per month, and 45% are female.
NTA, PhD admissions
The lecturers also criticised NTA for discontinuing its PhD admissions programme. They asserted that all 83 of JNU’s PhD programmes won’t have students this year as a result of this decision being made so late in the academic year. They added that 11 colleges and centres that only provide PhD programmes would be unable to conduct any classes at all. Teachers also noted that the UGC—NET, the alternative path to PhD admissions, had not been held for more than 80 disciplines for nearly 15 months.
“Admissions to JNU’s research level take the longest and include the most steps. NTA has requested institutions to make their own arrangements after breaking its promise to 20 Central universities, including JNU, to conduct a PhD-CUET as late as the third week of August 2022. The JNUTA stated that JNU has not started any of the necessary legal steps to discuss and decide the procedures for obtaining its PhD admissions. Additionally, they stated that the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) hierarchy in supervision norms and the absence of promotions at JNU contributed to the loss of 378 PhD seats in 2021–2022.
CUET 2022: No to MCQ
The practice of giving exams with multiple-choice questions (MCQ) has also drawn criticism from teachers. No university in the entire world, according to them, has MCQ-based exams for its research programmes. According to JNU academics, using only MCQs for admissions is not an acceptable academic practice. Additionally, it is not a recognised practice globally, according to the JNUTA. Whether in the natural sciences or other fields, teachers claimed that MCQs “had not truly stood the test of fairness.”
The group claimed to have surveyed 67 universities, including 34 in Europe, 21 in the United States, and 11 in Asia and Australia and discovered that none of them offered MCQ-based tests for their research programmes. According to JNU academics, using only MCQs for admissions is not an acceptable academic practice. Additionally, it is not a recognised practice globally, according to the JNUTA. Teachers also said that the CUET will simply serve to increase the number of private coaching facilities while eroding university autonomy and destroying institution Acts.
