The stand-off between aspirants of competitive exams and the Uttar Pradesh Public Service ended on Thursday with the chief minister taking cognisance of the demands and announcing that the exam will be held in one day in a single shift.
While the above announcement pertains to the Provincial Civil Service (PCS) preliminary exam, a committee will be formed for the RO/ARO (Review officer and Assistant Review Officer) preliminary exam.
Since Monday aspirants for these exams had been protesting with the contention that different shifts would mean different question papers which in turn would benefit students who got the easier questions. They were not satisfied with the normalisation process that the Commission said it would adopt, arguing that it would interfere with the transparency of the exam.
The reconciliatory step takes away the sting from the Samajwadi Party’s campaign for the by-election which is to be held on November 20. Today party president, Akhilesh Yadav said that this would be a ‘yogi’ versus ‘pratiyogi’ (aspirant) election.
The UPPSC has postponed the RO/ARO examination pending the submission of a report by a committee which studies all aspects of the exam and ensures that the credibility of these examinations is maintained.
Ashok Kumar, secretary of the UPPSC said that the Commission had decided to conduct the exams in multiple shifts in view of the multiple paper leaks that have plagued the competitive exam process in the state. However, after the demand of the students and the intervention of the chief minister, changes had been made in the schedule.
This year, some 5.76 lakh candidates are scheduled to take the PCS preliminary exam. The exam requires 1,758 centres but as only 978 centres have been approved, the exam was slated for two days. Similarly, for the RO-ARO exam, more than 10.76 lakh candidates have filled out the forms and once again due to the paucity of centres, it was to be held in three sessions.