Mangaluru: Though the Government of Karnataka has been conducting the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (CET) for selecting the students for professional courses like medical, engineering, dental, Ayurveda among others, the parents of the candidates who completed PUC allege that CET is being held in violation of the rules and regulations.
As per the guidelines of the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), those who apply for CET should clear their Second PU examinations. Hence, it is necessary that CET should be conducted only after the announcement of PUC results. Unfortunately, KEA has been conducting CET exams prior to the announcement of PUC results. Hence, the students are forced to write CET, before clearing the PU exams.
Those who apply for CET, need to pay Rs 700. Though there are limited seats for the professional courses in various colleges, over 2 lakh students usually write the CET. However, only few thousand students manage to secure seats through CET. As per the statistics, a total of 2,02,430 students appeared for the CET last year and a total of Rs 14.17 Crore was collected through registration fees.
According to parents, KEA conducts examination only for the benefit of those who conduct coaching classes. They are questioning the necessity of conducting CET for professional courses. They allege CET is a platform for the coaching institutions to enrol students in large numbers and collect fee from them. If there is no CET, then there is no such opportunity to make money from coaching classes. As the basic qualification for professional courses is PUC, what is the need to conduct CET?”, they question.
A parent and activist E Eshwarraj, when contacted, told newskarnataka.com that the purpose of conducting CET was to appease the coaching mafia.”Government is conducting CET illegally as the guidelines clearly says that those who appear for the entrance test should complete PUC. However, CET is being conducted before the PUC results”, he said.
Educationist and social worker M G Hegde told Newskarnataka that he was not against the CET as it helped the talented students from rural areas to enrol into professional courses. “However, KEA should not conduct examination for the sake of some influential private coaching institutions. CET should be conducted in a transparent manner and not by violating the guidelines.
