Shillong, May 14: The Education Department, Government of Meghalaya, wishes to address concerns raised by students and parents regarding the allotment of examination centers for CUET (UG) 2025 with proposed 14 new centre for CUET examination will accommodate 815 students.
The new centres that the education department has sent to NTA, in St Mary’s School Shillong with 100 numbers, Shillong College 100 numbers, Sherwood School ,Tura 40 numbers, Shillong ITI 30 numbers, MATI,Shillong 30 numbers.
In Shillong Polytechnic 50 numbers, St Anthonys School Shillong 150 numbers, St Anthony College, Shillong 70 numbers, St Edmunds College, Shillong 50 numbers, Shillong Public School, Shillong 25 numbers, Tech Services, Shillong 40 numbers, Auxilium School, Tura 30 numbers, Nokrek Height School, Tura 30 numbers, Donbosco College, Tura 70 numbers.
A similar situation arose during CUET (PG) 2025, where several students were initially allotted examination centers outside the state. The State Government promptly intervened and, with the support of the National Testing Agency (NTA), successfully identified additional examination centers within Meghalaya. All affected students were subsequently re-allotted centers within the state.
It is important to note that the allotment of examination centers is managed entirely by the NTA using an automated software system. This system allocates centers based on the preferences submitted by each candidate. Candidates are required to indicate four preferred locations, and the system assigns a center strictly from among these choices.
Therefore, if a student has been allotted a center outside Meghalaya, it is because they had selected that location as one of their preferences. This includes cases where students have been allotted centers as far as Port Blair. The State Government has no role in the individual allotment of examination centers.
The total numbers of students register for CUET (UG) 2025 are 12,685 students from Meghalaya, out of the total numbers of students 7,742 candidates have been allotted centers within Meghalaya due to paucity of available centres and 4,943 candidates have been allotted centers outside Meghalaya.
From the 4,654 candidates have been allotted centers in Assam, only 289 candidates have been allotted centers outside both Meghalaya and Assam and among these, only 93 candidates are assigned centers outside the North East region and One student has been allotted Port Blair, based on it being his or her second choice.
There are currently 2 City Options in Meghalaya and five City Options in Assam. Since the system guarantees allocation from among the four preferred choices provided by each student, the students could have selected one of these 7 choices to avoid going out of the region.
In the case of CUET (UG) 2025, the NTA did not communicate with the State Government in advance about any shortage of examination centers in the state. The matter only came to light at the last moment when several students were allotted centers outside Meghalaya.
As soon as the issue was brought to the attention of the State Government, over 800 additional computer nodeswere swiftly identified across various institutions. The list of these potential venues has been shared with the NTA.
The NTA has engaged Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the agency responsible for vetting and validating computer-based test centers. This is a necessary process that takes a few days, and the inspections of the proposed centers are currently underway.
The Education Department acknowledges the support of various schools and colleges across Meghalaya that have come forward to offer their computer labs for the conduct of NTA exams. However, a few institutions have not yet extended their upport, leading to a shortfall in available computer-based exam centers.
This must be understood that extending support to NTA for having more exam centers will greatly help the students of Meghalaya and therefore support of all institutions is pivotal to resolve this issue.
The NTA confident that all candidates scheduled to appear after 16th May 2025, who had opted for centers in Meghalaya but were allotted centers outside the state, will be re-allotted to centers within Meghalaya, subject to availability and completion of the validation process. In this regard, Education Department will confirmation tomorrow or day after.
The State Government remains committed to ensuring that every student from Meghalaya gets a fair and accessible opportunity to appear for national-level exams like CUET. Regular communication is being maintained with NTA, and further updates will be shared with the public as and when received.
