view point-
The eagerly awaited preliminary exams for the posts of Under Secretary and Deputy Superintendent of Police have just been conducted. As expected by many, it hasn’t been a smooth affair. Questions are being raised about the questions supposed to test the candidates’ aptitude for the two coveted posts in the state administration. With the ever prevalent paranoia among the youth who sit for such exams regarding alleged ‘fixing’ or ‘push and pull’ - not to forget the high voltage political scenario of present - one would have expected the SPSC to do a better job or at least be better prepared.
The clamour of voices crying ‘unfair’ conduct of exams will rise once the results are out. RTI applications will be filed and some might take the commission to court and should the Courts stay the examination process, the still-far-from-complete process, with the mains and the viva voce yet to be held, will get pushed back even more. And the charade will play out as it has for the past many years with similar exams. The paranoia surrounding such exams for government office is not baseless either. Glaring errors have been made in the past. Not surprisingly, rumors regarding the recently conducted SPSC exams had started surfacing even before the application process had started. The last dates for applying for the said exam being pushed back by about two months, the sudden announcement of the prelims with only a month’s lead time, the duration of the exam being extended by half an hour in the last week, only added grist to the rumor mills.
With the odds stacked against it, the SPSC ought to have been better equipped and motivated. Getting into the state civil services should be a matter of pride, an emotion the recently held exams fails to inspire in any way. Minor or major, a lapse is a lapse. For an institution tasked not only with conducting such exams but which is more importantly responsible for recruiting workforce to administrate the state, errors are unbecoming. Such lackadaisical attitude of an authority like SPSC cannot be excused or justified in any way.
Responsible behavior is not exclusive to those in authority. Candidates who have appeared for the exam are equally responsible to bring the lapses to light and demand accountability. For those aspiring to hold positions of power and responsibility, raising their voice against discrepancies regardless of whether they get through the exam or not, should not need urging. Otherwise, the call for better will always be exclusive to the disgruntled and lose the credibility it deserves.
The only way the commission can hope to restore faith amongst the candidates and the people at large is to first accept that it has faltered, miserably at that, and then propose amends. Otherwise, rumor mills are again pregnant with another one, of the commission itself sabotaging the whole examination process, for reasons best known to it.
[The writer works with Sikkim NOW! and had also appeared for the recently held SPSC prelims]
The eagerly awaited preliminary exams for the posts of Under Secretary and Deputy Superintendent of Police have just been conducted. As expected by many, it hasn’t been a smooth affair. Questions are being raised about the questions supposed to test the candidates’ aptitude for the two coveted posts in the state administration. With the ever prevalent paranoia among the youth who sit for such exams regarding alleged ‘fixing’ or ‘push and pull’ - not to forget the high voltage political scenario of present - one would have expected the SPSC to do a better job or at least be better prepared.
The clamour of voices crying ‘unfair’ conduct of exams will rise once the results are out. RTI applications will be filed and some might take the commission to court and should the Courts stay the examination process, the still-far-from-complete process, with the mains and the viva voce yet to be held, will get pushed back even more. And the charade will play out as it has for the past many years with similar exams. The paranoia surrounding such exams for government office is not baseless either. Glaring errors have been made in the past. Not surprisingly, rumors regarding the recently conducted SPSC exams had started surfacing even before the application process had started. The last dates for applying for the said exam being pushed back by about two months, the sudden announcement of the prelims with only a month’s lead time, the duration of the exam being extended by half an hour in the last week, only added grist to the rumor mills.
With the odds stacked against it, the SPSC ought to have been better equipped and motivated. Getting into the state civil services should be a matter of pride, an emotion the recently held exams fails to inspire in any way. Minor or major, a lapse is a lapse. For an institution tasked not only with conducting such exams but which is more importantly responsible for recruiting workforce to administrate the state, errors are unbecoming. Such lackadaisical attitude of an authority like SPSC cannot be excused or justified in any way.
Responsible behavior is not exclusive to those in authority. Candidates who have appeared for the exam are equally responsible to bring the lapses to light and demand accountability. For those aspiring to hold positions of power and responsibility, raising their voice against discrepancies regardless of whether they get through the exam or not, should not need urging. Otherwise, the call for better will always be exclusive to the disgruntled and lose the credibility it deserves.
The only way the commission can hope to restore faith amongst the candidates and the people at large is to first accept that it has faltered, miserably at that, and then propose amends. Otherwise, rumor mills are again pregnant with another one, of the commission itself sabotaging the whole examination process, for reasons best known to it.
[The writer works with Sikkim NOW! and had also appeared for the recently held SPSC prelims]
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