The Maharashtra state government’s decision to re-introduce the MH-CET for Engineering and Medical examinations has created a furore among aspirants. Mainly, because they think it now means “studying for two exams.”
However, PaGaLGuY managed to speak to people in the education ministry in the state government, who said it MH-CET was brought back due to ‘public demand.’
Apparently, the education ministry was engulfed with protests from parents and aspirants about the vast Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) syllabus. The argument being that even those who never had IIT in mind, were forced to study through huge textbooks which was too comprehensive to cope up with. Besides JEE was conducted as per the CBSE syllabus as opposed to the state board syllabus of the CET.
The state government hopes that the MH-CET will reduce the ‘burden’ on aspirants.
Quite a few students that PaGaLGuY spoke to agreed. “No, it is not a burden for all those who want to give both exams. If one is preparing for the JEE then it is more than enough because it covers the syllabus of CET too.” said Kavita Hegde, a student enrolled in Rao’s IIT coaching center. She will be appearing for the CET and JEE mains in 2016.
Another said: “I found the JEE very difficult. I decided to attempt it again next year. But with the CET being introduced, I will just attempt the CET. I stand a better chance of getting into at least a top college in Mumbai if not IIT.” said Shristi Mitall, who will be attempting the CET next year.
For junior colleges, it is a different concern. They fear that with MH- CET being the only criteria for the admission to engineering colleges, students will not take the board exams seriously . But then again, not all colleges think on the same lime. Vidya Menon, faculty member in the Science Stream at V. G Vaze Kelkar College in Mumbai said, “This is not a valid argument, given the fact that students have to get a minimum of 50% in their 12 std. board exams in order to be eligible for the CET. Besides, the MH-CET is based on the 12 standard state board curriculum instead of the CBSE pattern. How then will the importance of board exams diminish? If the curriculum studied is the same it is quite unlikely that a student will not take the board exam seriously.”
The next few months will tell whether the new move by the state government makes sense or not and will bring about a larger good for would be engineers and doctors.