The website for registrations for the optional common entrance test (CET) for first-year junior college (FYJC) admissions which remained unavailable for the last six days will finally re-open today at 3 pm.
In a notification sent late on Sunday night, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) said the website would be available from July 26 to August 2. Class XI aspirants who wish to opt for the CET exam can now log in to the website, http://cet.mh-ssc.ac.in/, and complete the registration process.
While the SSC results were declared last week, ICSE results came out on Saturday.
Since Class X exams have been cancelled across academic boards and results are being declared through internal assessments, the state education department announced the optional CET to bring uniformity in admissions. Though optional, Class XI aspirants who give the CET will be given first preference in college admissions and are likely to take away the choice seats at top colleges.
The CET will be a two-hour examination conducted in physical mode and will be a 100-mark multiple choice question paper format. It will be conducted on August 21 from 11 am to 1 pm.
Initially, the website was supposed to be open from July 20 to 26 but due to technical glitches, it shut down within a day of opening up on July 21. More than one lakh students had already registered for the CET before the website crashed.
According to the notification released by MSBSHSE, students will have an option to select the language (medium) in which they want to take exams. Students who had already registered for the CET last week can use their application number to check their forms.
The CET itself is proving to be unpopular with students, especially of non-state board schools, terming it unfair as it is based on the SSC (state board) syllabus. An ICSE student has approached the Bombay High Court pointing out the ‘bias’ against students of other boards and seeking relief. The court this week asked the state board if the syllabus of ICSE, CBSE could be considered as well but the board is yet to reply.
