EXCLUSIVE
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Meghalaya Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma told Meghalaya News 24 that there will be three centres for Common University Entrance Test (CUET) in the state. While two will be set up here in Shillong, Tura will get one CUET centre.
After having a telephonic communication with the Director General National Testing Agency from New Delhi, Sangma said the state Government has proposed five CUET centres at the UnderGraduate level, however, the NTA has assured that if the student number is high then, more centres will be open in the state.
“Meghalaya will have three centres of CUET examination this year, one will be in Tura and two will be in Shillong as of now. The advertisement for the application for registration is an ongoing process and if the student number is high then, more centres will be open in the state,” Sangma said.
He said for the Post Graduate Programme, the NTA has initiated the process of setting up CUET centres.
Asked about the UnderGraduate Programme, he said, “I think for the UG programmes they may have more centres. We have written to the NTA last week to have more CUET centres at the undergraduate level. We have asked for more centres in the Khasi Jaintia Hills region and Garo Hills region, we have proposed five centres to NTA but they informed me over phone that they will decide based on the number of students.”
Stating that many seats in North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) remained unfilled as the Meghalaya students failed to perform, the Education Minister said, “I would like to ask all the state students to prepare well because I have been told that NEHU there are many vacancies and since our students did not perform well in the last CUET examinations, these vacancies could not be filled.”
“Since the admission is based on the CUET marks, many seats are left unfilled, if this continues, I feel the state should write so that these seats can be filled by non CUET,” he added.
Last year, due to the unavailability of the CUET centre in the state has compelled the students of the state who are seeking admission for UG And PG courses into various institutions in the country to travel to Guwahati, Assam for appearing the entrance examinations.
Assuring the students, the Education Minister said, “We are working to ensure that our students should not and will not go out of the state to appear for CUET. “
Earlier, the Voice of the People Party (VPP) had written to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, to ensure that the state has all the required computer-based testing centres to meet the need of students for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET).