Embracing progressive educational reforms of NEP 2020 while reverting to secondary board merit for college entry creates an academic paradox.
Nasir Rasheed
The forthcoming academic session marks a pivotal juncture for higher education administration in Jammu and Kashmir. Following an admission awareness notice issued on April 16, 2026, by the Directorate of Colleges, Higher Education Department, the region has outlined its strategy for the upcoming admissions cycle. For the academic session 2026–27, entry into the progressive Four-Year Undergraduate Programs (FYUGP) and Integrated P.G. Programs across all Government Degree Colleges will be granted strictly on a Non-CUET basis, guided entirely by Class 12 (10+2) merit and scores. To streamline this transition, candidates will register through a Centralised Admission Portal, utilising a preference-based system to allocate courses and colleges according to their secondary academic standing.This policy adjustment has understandably brought substantial relief to local aspirants and their families, removing the logistical hurdles and scheduling anxieties associated with national entrance examinations. From an academic perspective, however, it invites a thoughtful examination of how educational frameworks operate. We are currently observing a scenario where state-run degree colleges have successfully integrated the dynamic educational reforms of NEP 2020, yet the standardised testing gateway designed to feed into this dynamic educational ecosystem has been placed on hold.
The National Education Policy 2020 is fundamentally structured to replace rote memorization with conceptual understanding, critical thinkingand tailored skill development. Within the campus gates, the Higher Education Department of Jammu and Kashmir has demonstrated a highly commendable commitment to materialising these principles.Undergraduate curricula across the region have been modernised to provide robust academic flexibility, allowing students to pursue dynamic Major-Minor subject combinations that align with their distinct academic curiosities. Most notably, the state has institutionalised the student-centric multiple-exit framework, ensuring that academic progression is modular and thoroughly rewarded at every distinct interval.Despite these vital structural advancements inside the classroom, evaluating the external admissions mechanism reveals a notable pedagogical disconnect.A modernised curriculum demands an equally modernised gateway. When higher education frameworks are restructured to cultivate specialized talent and interdisciplinary depth, the entry metric must evolve to assess natural conceptual aptitude rather than generalised secondary retention.
To establish a uniform, aptitude-based entry standard nationwide, the Ministry of Education established the National Testing Agency (NTA) as an independent, autonomous premier testing organization under the Societies Registration Act (1860). The foundational mission of the NTA is to advance equity and overall quality in education by administering research-based, transparent, and international-level assessments to accurately evaluate candidate competency.The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) was developed precisely to support this objective. By evaluating candidates through domain-specific assessments, CUET aims to provide a common platform and equal opportunities to aspirants across the country, particularly bridging the gap for students from rural and remote areas to establish better connections with universities. Transitioning undergraduate admissions back to aggregate 10+2 merit effectively halts the gateway of these broader educational reforms. While the instructional delivery within the colleges has been successfully elevated to match the sophisticated goals of NEP 2020, the selection metric defaults to traditional evaluations. Reverting to secondary marksheets measures broad curriculum retention, temporarily bypassing the opportunity to identify and nurture specific subject-matter aptitude.
“The Higher Education Department aims to align admission standards with its progressive internal framework. While currently bypassing CUET due to infrastructure gaps, the long-term goal remains full national integration. As regional digital and testing facilities expand, J&K will eventually harmonize its entrance processes with national benchmarks to provide a modernized, seamless educational ecosystem.”
The decision to bypass CUET for state-run degree colleges is rooted in practical administrative empathy rather than an aversion to academic standards. While the return to 10+2 admissions provides undeniable administrative simplicity, academic objectivity requires recognizing the structural limitations of secondary board scores as a placement tool.“Incoming college aspirants in the region complete their secondary education across distinct examination boards, predominantly the local J&K Board of School Education (JKBOSE) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Because these independent bodies operate with varying syllabi frameworks, examination styles and evaluation scales, raw aggregate percentages do not represent a normalised baseline of merit. Systemic variations or grade inflation in one board can unintentionally place capable candidates from another at a competitive disadvantage. Standardised testing naturally neutralised these discrepancies by providing a singular evaluation metric”. Furthermore, aggregate secondary marks serve primarily as an indicator of general academic discipline. A student may possess an exceptional, intuitive aptitude for a specific academic domain such as Artificial Intelligence, Astrology or literature while carrying a more modest overall percentage due to secondary subjects outside their primary interest.
True academic flexibility relies on structural alignment. To fully realize the promise of choice-based undergraduate education, students must be guided into specialized majors based on their verified conceptual strengths rather than aggregate secondary averages. Domain-specific testing captures these specialized capabilities, whereas aggregate scoring models risk overlooking specialized academic potential. The higher education ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir currently passes through a dual reality. While Central Universities operating within the region continue to integrate CUET scores, state-run degree colleges will rely on board merit for the immediate future. This divergence, however, should be viewed with academic optimism. The partial implementation of NEP 2020 is not a permanent destination, but a transitional phase in a developing educational scenario. The Higher Education Department has demonstrated commendable foresight in building a progressive instructional framework inside its institutions; the eventual objective must be to align the entrance gateway with this internal excellence. Rather than viewing the Non-CUET decision as a permanent retreat, stakeholders can look forward to a progressive synthesis. As digital connectivity continues to mature and localised computer-based testing infrastructure is systematically expanded into remote districts, the structural barriers to standardised assessments will naturally diminish. Systematically bridging this gateway gap will eventually allow Jammu and Kashmir to fully harmonise its admissions processes with national benchmarks, ensuring that the region’s youth are empowered by an educational ecosystem that is thoroughly modernised from the entrance gate to the final degree.
(The author is a Research Scholar at the Department of Education, University of Kashmir. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
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