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Some of the biggest, revolutionary and historic changes are going to be seen in the education system of India in the coming times, which is expected to provide great relief to crores of students and their parents of the country. On the lines of the country’s engineering entrance examination i.e. IIT-JEE, now the country’s two biggest and important national entrance examinations i.e. NEET for medical and CUET for admission to undergraduate courses of central universities are also being considered to be conducted twice a year. The Union Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC) are preparing a comprehensive action plan to make the overall education framework of the country modern, flexible and student-friendly. In the present education system, this step is being taken with the aim of eliminating the excessive mental pressure, stress and fear of wasting a year on students at the time of examination. If this proposal is fully implemented, it will not only provide more opportunities to students to showcase their potential, but will also bring unprecedented transparency and ease in the admission processes. Discussions regarding this possible change have already become heated among educational institutions, coaching institutes and student organizations across the country and everyone is eagerly waiting for the implementation of this policy.
Know why the country is feeling the need to conduct NEET and CUET twice a year.
In the last few years, the scope of competitive examinations in India and the number of candidates appearing for them have increased tremendously. Every year lakhs of students dream of becoming a doctor or engineer, work hard day and night and appear in examinations like NEET or JEE. But under the present system, due to the examination taking place only once a year, if a student’s health deteriorates, some untoward incident happens on the day of the examination, or he misses the selection with meager marks, then he has to wait for a whole year to bear the burden of his failure. Due to this long gap of one year, many youth become victims of extreme mental stress, depression and despair. Academics and psychologists have long been suggesting that if major entrance examinations are conducted twice a year in India on the lines of western countries, the mental pressure of ‘do or die’ on students would be reduced to a great extent. Taking this step seriously in the interest of students, the Education Ministry has started high-level discussions with various experts and stakeholders.
Education Ministry is taking inspiration from the successful model of IIT-JEE
In the field of engineering entrance examination, JEE Main is being successfully conducted in two sessions in a year for the last few years. The biggest advantage of this system is that students get a second chance to improve their scores. If a student is not able to perform well in either the January or April session, he/she can improve his/her score by correcting his/her shortcomings in the second attempt. The Education Ministry is now planning to apply this successful model to the country’s biggest medical entrance examination ‘NEET’ (NEET-UG) and ‘CUET-UG’, the common entrance examination for universities across the country. Under this much-awaited change, students will have the freedom to sit for either of the two opportunities available in the year or try their luck in both. The test in which they have the best score will be considered for final admission. This system will not only reduce students’ fear of exams but will also make their access to higher education easier.
As per the vision of National Education Policy (NEP), comprehensive reforms are taking place in the education system.
The main objective of the new National Education Policy (NEP 2020) brought by the Government of India is to end the traditional and rote education system of the country and make it more practical, flexible and skill-based. Top officials of the Education Ministry believe that the examination system should be designed in such a way that it evaluates the real talent and knowledge of the students and not tests them on the stress of a day in the examination hall. By conducting examinations twice a year, the sudden heavy administrative pressure on the examination centers will also be divided into two parts, which will also give an opportunity to NTA and other examination conducting agencies for better management. However, to implement this big project of conducting the examination twice, intensive brainstorming is going on on the technical infrastructure, availability of computer labs, standardization of question papers and strong security arrangements so that there is no scope for any kind of disturbance or technical flaw.
What is the reaction of students, parents and coaching industry on this big change?
The buzz of the Education Ministry conducting NEET and CUET twice a year has given new hope to students and their parents across the country. Those students coming from rural and remote areas, who used to often get nervous under the pressure of a single opportunity, are feeling extremely relieved by this change. On the other hand, the coaching industry and educational institutions of the country are also preparing what kind of changes will have to be made in their academic calendar and syllabus revision strategies if the examinations are held twice a year. Experts suggest that while implementing this system, it should also be ensured that there is not much difference in the difficulty level of the question papers of both the sessions, so that there is no bias against any student during evaluation. Overall, this step of the Education Ministry can prove to be a very visionary and commendable effort towards bringing the Indian education system in line with global standards and securing the future of the students.