SHILLONG, June 14: The Khasi Students’ Union NEHU unit has demanded the administrators of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) that the reservation for students who have a right to study in the university should not be affected even if the admissions are carried out through the Common University Entrance Test.
Banlumlang Rani, President of the KSU,NEHU Unit said that even in other educational institutions students are exempted from the CUET, but in order to take admissions in the Post Graduate (PG) courses in NEHU the students will have to appear in this exam.
He said that the organisation neither opposes nor supports the implementation of the CUET, but the organisation has clearly stated to the administrators that if this test is held also it should not affect the reservation of local students and youths, so that they can take admission in the institution because NEHU was brought with the intention of upgrading the education of the tribal population of the region and the locals.
On being queried, Rani said that in the past years, the seats in the university was kept at 50% for tribals and 50% for other categories, and a special reservation of 5% was also placed for the local population as per their domicile besides other reservations.
On the hand the students of the university have also clearly stated that they do not accept the plan to introduce Japnanese as a subject of study in the university. Rani said that the KSU is not against this plan, but prior to introducing the subject, NEHU must meet the necessary requirements of the university, and added that the State Government must urge the Central Government to first upgrade the facilities which are still absent from NEHU.