Teachers meets DU VC, highlights difficulties faced by students due to CUET

A section of teachers on Friday called on Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh, seeking an investigation into the difficulties faced by students due to the Common University Entrance Test and the impact of the paper on the "social profile" of classrooms.

In a note flagging several issues, the teachers, including academic council members, alleged that there appeared to be a steep rise in admission of students belonging to the upper-middle economic class due to the CUET.

The CUET, conducted by the National Testing Agency, was launched last year for admission to undergraduate programmes. Several universities, including the DU, adopted the CUET despite opposition from a section of teachers.

"Since students who belong to the working class are not able to afford highly priced CUET coaching. This is a kind of virtual expulsion of students who belong to working or lower middle-class backgrounds," the teachers mentioned in the letter.

They also pointed out that some students preparing for other entrance exams take admission to the DU for "safety".

"As a result, they do not take the classes and even the exams seriously. This causes the loss of seat which would have been taken up by some other desirous student. This exclusion is further compounded by the fact that CUET is based only on the CBSE syllabi which is not followed by almost 80 per cent of schools in the country," the note read.

Moreover, the CUET is conducted online even though both digital literacy and infrastructure are extremely limited in the country, the teachers said.

They also raised the matter of abrupt timetables due to changes brought in after the implementation of the NEP2020 and the FYUP.

"The extra 3 papers introduced have increased the burden on students as the total no. of papers stands at 7. The unhealthy class schedule of these papers has forced students to only attend classes while their learning of the core subjects has been compromised," the teachers said in the note.