The J&K government on Tuesday announced that the students, who could not appear in the recently held Common University Entrance Test (CUET) due to allotment of examination centres outside the Union Territory, would be given an opportunity to take admission in subjects and colleges of their choice.

Principal Secretary, Education, Alok Kumar, said sufficient opportunity would be given to such candidates for admission in the undergraduate programmes in UT colleges based on their merit in the Class XII examinations.

He said the CUET, as per the NEP 2020, was a standardised entrance test, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) that aimed to streamline the admission process for undergraduate and postgraduate courses being offered by universities across the country.

“Last year, more than 200 universities (including 47 central universities) participated in the CUET,” he said.

Meanwhile, political parties targeted the National Testing Agency and the administration over allotment of examination centres outside Jammu and Kashmir. The Apni Party held a protest in Jammu. It said the previous system should be restored wherein the University of Jammu took entrance test for admissions to colleges under its ambit.

National Conference provincial president Rattan Lal Gupta said it was incompetency on the part of the government.