Entrance Tests for professional courses in Puducherry scrapped

Puducherry, Apr 4 : The Puducherry Government has scrapped Common Entrance Test (CET) for students seeking admission to various professional courses from this academic year.

The State Education Minister M O H F Shahjahan announced the decision in the State Assembly after a debate on a call attention motion tabled by legislators of various parties.

The members demanded abolition of CET and restoration of status quo ante on the matter, while claiming that there were protests against it from parents, students, political parties and other organisations.

The call attention motion was tabled by A. Anbalagan of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), S. P. Sivakumar of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and R.K.R. Anandaraman of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK).

The Tamil Nadu Government had already discontinued the system and was admitting students on the basis of marks in the qualifying examinations.

The CET was introduced in 1992 for various professional courses in Puducherry.

Members across various political parties unanimously pleaded for immediate abolition of CET and said that the Government should emulate the system prevailing in Tamil Nadu on admissions to professional courses as Puducherry adopted the neighbouring state's Board Education pattern and syllabus for plus-two courses.

ANI