Pune: The state government has decided to again postpone the 'Common Entrance Test' (CET) which is mandatory for graduate and post-graduate courses of higher and technical education department. The government officials will take a review again after 15 days and then decide on the new dates for conducting the CET exam.

The coronavirus outbreak started in the state when the first patient of Covid-19 was identified in the month of March. CET was originally scheduled to be conducted in April, but it was postponed by the government taking into consideration the situation due to Covid. Stringent lockdown was also imposed in the state further.

Recently, when relaxations in lockdown were announced, the CET cell started planning to conduct the exams in July and August. More than 4.5 lakh students had registered for the test to be conducted in July. Some students and parents however demanded that the exams be postponed and cited the fear of coronavirus which is still not under control.

State Minister for Higher and Technical Education Uday Samant said, "The higher and technical education department conducts CET exams for various courses every year. This year, due to the Covid-19 scare, many students and parents had demanded that the CET should be postponed. However, it is necessary to conduct this test for degree and post-graduate courses of higher education. We have postponed the exam for now, but we will take a review about it in next 15 days and then take a final call. The new dates of all these examinations will be announced later."

"MHT-CET exam is mandatory for taking admission to first year of engineering, pharmacy and agriculture degree courses. It is also mandatory for degree and post-graduation professional courses of hotel management and catering technology, master in computer applications, law, physical education and pedagogy courses. The CET exam for all these courses has been postponed," Uday Samant added.