CUET Phase-1 records 76% attendance; maximum students from UP, Bihar

The first phase of the Common University Entrance Test for undergraduate admissions or CUET-UG, which was concluded on Wednesday, recorded 76.4% attendance.

The exam is being conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in two phases — phase 1 in July and phase 2 in August. The second phase will begin from August 4 and will continue until August 20. The NTA will issue admit cards for the second phase on July 31.

According to the NTA data, of the 2,50,495 candidates allotted slots in phase one, 1,91,586 appeared in the exam. Of them, maximum candidates were from Uttar Pradesh (49,915), followed by Bihar (20,840), Madhya Pradesh (19,032), Delhi (16,885) and Rajasthan (14,982).

The attendance was lower in many northeastern states. For instance in Meghalaya, only 36 of the 319 students allotted slots in phase one turned up. The attendance was also low in Arunachal Pradesh (23.64%), Sikkim (41%), Mizoram (46.7%), Nagaland (53.4%), and Assam (63.3%).

Among southern states, Karnataka recorded minimum attendance i,e 50%, and Andhra Pradesh recorded maximum attendance at 70%.

In terms of day-wise data of four days on which the exam was conducted in phase one –July 15, 16, 19 and 20– maximum attendance was recorded on day third i.e 79% and minimum on day one i.e 72.9%.

During the first phase of CUET, several students in Delhi complained that they missed the exams due to the last-minute change in the exam centres. The NTA, however, has maintained that students were informed well on time about the change of examination centre and the centres were changed within the same cities. The agency has not clarified yet if such students will be given another opportunity to appear in exams during the second phase.

Officials at NTA said that they will now go through the grievances. “All the grievances will be resolved within the next few days. We will go through each and every case and after evaluating the merit of grievance, a decision will be taken,” said a senior NTA official.

The Union government said in March that it will conduct CUET-UG, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and made its score a mandatory yardstick for all central universities but kept it optional for others. Around 90 universities, including 43 central universities, are participating in CUET-UG this year.