Open Varsity students can sit for DSC exam
HYDERABAD: An exclusive story published in these columns recently has restored eligibility of degree holders of open universities to appear for the District Selection Committee exam for recruitment of teachers.
Dr BR Ambedkar Open University vice-chancellor P Prakash submitted a memorandum along with the clipping of the newspaper report to principal secretary (higher education) MG Gopal on January 18.
Realising its mistake the government decided to allow graduates from open universities also to take the teacher recruitment examinations. The vice-chancellor had sought restoration of the eligibility for degree-holders from his institution. By GO No. 4 issued on January 9, the government said those without having Intermediate qualification but obtained degrees in the open university education system were ineligible to take DSC examinations. On January 15, The New Indian Express carried a story headlined: ‘No DSC for Open Varsity Graduates’.
When open universities were created by an Act of Parliament, it was made clear that degrees to be awarded by the institutions would be valid for jobs in the central government. If the degrees are valid for central government jobs, it should be valid for state government jobs too.
Speaking to Express, Dr BR Ambedkar Open University registrar C Venkataiah says their students are provided with material on a par with that of regular universities give and the university conducts counselling/tutoring through a network of study centres across the state on Sundays and holidays.
As their evaluation system is stringent and is on a par with regular varsities, only 13 per cent of the undergraduate students passed out last year.
Of the 78,000 candidates admitted, about 60 per cent did not have Intermediate qualification. Minister for secondary education Kolusu Parthsarathi announced on Monday that graduates who studied in the distance education system were also eligible to take DSC test since open universities were set up and functioning according to government norms. Overwhelmed by the decision, Kallepalli Maisaiah, who had done BA from BRAOU, said he had a new hope now.
Government amends DSC eligibility criteria
HYDERABAD: The state government made a few amendments to GO No 4 on January 9 on DSC eligibility criteria and issued a new GO (No.
12) on Monday. Candidates having studied Sericulture, Horticulture, Forestry and Poultry at the graduation level are also eligible to take the DSC test for recruitment as School Assistants (Biological Science).
Providing eligibility to the open university graduates to write DSC test for school assistant posts, the government removed the condition of compulsory Intermediate qualification. The DSC test will only be for 80 marks this year as against 100 marks previously. The government decided to reduce the number of questions from 200 to 160 as they are giving 20 per cent weightage for TET marks. Each of the 160 questions carries half a mark. The duration of examination has also been reduced from 3 hours to 2.30 hours.