BANGALORE: The Common Entrance Test (CET) for professional courses in Karnataka has been postponed by two weeks.
The test, which was scheduled to be held in the first week of May, will now be held on May 21 and 22. The Kannada language test will be held on May 23.

The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has attributed the delay to the postponement of II PU Mathematics and Physics examinations owing to the leak of question papers, and the four-day boycott of evaluation of answer scripts by lecturers. A senior KEA official told The Hindu that the dates were chosen considering the fact that a slew of entrance examinations, both State- and all-India-level, are scheduled in May.

For instance, the All-India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) is on April 29 (offline), the exam for St. John's National Academy of Health Sciences is on May 27, and the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) entrance test is on May 6, among many other tests by deemed and private universities.

PU lecturers coordinate CET procedures such as the dispatch of hall tickets and question papers and are in charge of invigilation, etc. Further, CET is conducted in some of the colleges where evaluation is taking place.

Though evaluation of II PU answer scripts resumed on Tuesday, the announcement of results is expected to be delayed by at least 10 days. Thimmaiah Purle, president of the Karnataka Pre-University College Lecturers' Association, said 80 per cent of evaluators had reported for work on Tuesday, and evaluation was progressing well.

“Originally, evaluation was scheduled to be completed by April 26. Now, the results can be expected only in the second or third week of May,” the official added. PU Board officials are hopeful that the dates for counselling, which will be online this year, would not be affected.

Seat allotment is scheduled to begin on July 25.