The State government’s decision to cancel the II pre-university (PU) examination has students worried about competitive professional courses. However, in a move that may help ease their anxiety, the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE) is planning to write about this to the agencies that conduct competitive entrance tests.
R. Snehal, Director of DPUE, told The Hindu that the authorities would ask the agencies not to consider II PU scores as a qualifying criterion while deciding whether a student was eligible to give the test. They also plan to ask the agencies not to award any weightage to marks while allotting ranks.
“We want all our PU students to be able to write the competitive entrance tests this year as we are not conducting a final exam,” said Ms. Snehal.
The department will write to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), as well as the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA).
The State government, too, has yet to decide whether it will award grades or scores while considering a student’s performance in the first-year final exams.
College admissions
While students hoping to take up engineering or medicine will have to wait for the NTA and the KEA to respond to the government’s request, the admission process for those who want to pursue degree courses is already under way.
Many colleges are, in fact, relieved as final examinations across all three boards have been cancelled, which levels the playing field. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) had cancelled their respective Class 12 exams earlier this week.
D. Kiran Jeevan, PRO of St. Joseph’s College, said they were admitting students into undergraduate programmes based on their Class 10 and 11 marks. “It is easy for us to admit students based on their earlier scores as now all the boards have cancelled the examination,” he said.
Fr. Abraham V.M., Vice-Chancellor of Christ (Deemed-to-be University), said that the students would have to give an entrance test and interview. “In the absence of Class 12 scores, we will consider this as our admission criteria. As all three boards have cancelled exams now, we can start the classes in the first week of August,” he said.
