The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) Selection Post Phase 13 exam gets more mired in controversy as the police lathicharged teachers and students protesting the various anomalies in the conduct of the exam.
The SSC exams are amongst the most competitive entrance exams in the country with more than 2 million aspirants. The exams are conducted to recruit candidates for various Group B (non-gazetted) and Group C (non-technical) posts in government organizations, including ministries. Popular exams conducted by the SSC include SSC CGL, SSC MTS, SSC CHSL, etc.
What are students protesting about?
- Allotment of wrong exam centers – Many students claim they have been allotted SSC exam centers they have not opted for when filling out the SSC application form. For instance, one visually impaired student from J&K claimed that he was allotted an exam center in Delhi. In another case, a student from Delhi found himself allotted an exam center in Andaman Nicobar.
- Last minute cancellations of exams – Many students after travelling far from their homes found on the exam-day, and much to their chagrin, that the exam has been cancelled indefinitely.
- Errored ridden question paper – Then there are also allegations that there were mistakes in how questions were framed. Some students even claim that parts of the questions were missing in some question papers.
- Same questions from previous year repeated – Another allegation is that questions from previous years’ SSC exam were repeated word-for-word.
- Technical glitches – Then in many cases students found the computer system to be unresponsive, or the mouse won’t work. With little help around, it is an open question whether such glitches were deliberate or pure negligence.
- Unhelpful exam officials – When students approached exam officials with their grudges, there was little to no help. On the contrary, as in some cases bouncers were used to intimidate students into silence.
- Blacklisted vendors – Another major allegation is enlisting blacklisted vendors to conduct the SSC exam.
Exam body say no blacklisted vendors used
Responding to criticisms, the exam conducting body has made a clarification stating that no blacklisted agency was given the task of conducting the SSC exam.
SSC Chairman S Gopalakrishnan also defended the conduct of the examinations and centre allocation process.
“This is the first time we have changed agencies, and hence some students faced issues. Some had to travel far because larger centres are not available in every city, while some cities only have smaller centres. We will resolve this in future exams. Secondly, in two locations, the exam was cancelled due to a security lapse. However, we re-conducted the test at those locations on the same day,” he explained.