CBSE students unhappy with circular of Cotton University

ADMISSION INTO UG COURSES

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Students who had recently cleared their Class-XII final examinations from the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) are in a tight situation following the move of Cotton University to conduct an entrance examination on the basis of syllabus of the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) to select meritorious students for admission into various degree courses in the Humanity or Arts stream.

The circular on UG (Under-Graduate) admission-2021 issued by the Academic Registrar of Cotton University on August 17, 2021, stated that the proposed entrance examination for students of Humanity or Arts stream, will have 15 questions on English and 12 questions on general aptitude.

According to the circular, the remaining questions will be equally distributed among the non-language subjects being taught at the Higher Secondary-level in Cotton University. These subjects are Anthropology, Economics, Education, Geography, History, Logic & Philosophy and Political Science.

"Cotton University follows the AHSEC syllabus at the HS level. So, most of the questions for the entrance examination will be set from the State Board syllabus. Under such circumstances, the CBSE students will be in a difficult situation to perform well in the entrance exam. Many students from CBSE study Sociology and Psychology at the Class-XII level. But the proposed entrance test will not include questions from Sociology and Psychology," said Sangeeta Choudhury whose daughter (cleared Class XII from CBSE) wants to appear for the entrance examination.

Choudhury is not alone. Many parents like Choudhury are now apprehensive that their children may not be able to crack the entrance exam for admission into Cotton University.

When contacted, the Academic Registrar of Cotton University, Dr Sanjay Kumar Dutta said that since the AHSEC syllabus is almost the same with the CBSE syllabus, the students from the central board should not face any difficulty in writing for the entrance exam.

"We have planned to conduct the entrance exam in a way to select the best meritorious students — both from the State and Central boards. Negative marking is necessary in such entrance exam to prevent the possibility of a huge number of students scoring the same marks," added Dr Dutta.

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