THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The army recruitment tests are getting e-savvy. In a bid to speed up recruitment of soldiers, the Army is computerising its Common Entrance Test for candidates. The first computer-based test will be held in Bangalore in January for selection to the Soldier (Nursing Assistant) category, said Brigadier M M Gupta, deputy director general (states), HQ Recruiting Zone, Bangalore.
Candidates who clear the preliminary examinations, which include physical tests, sit for the common entrance test. For instance, over 6,000 candidates had reported for a recruitment rally held over the last weekend on the Pangode Army ground here, but only a few will make it to the written entrance test on December 30.
‘’Now the candidates use pen and paper. This will change. The candidates will sit before a computer for the test. We are in the process of getting funds released and buying the computers,’’ Brigadier Gupta, who was in Thiruvananthapuram, told ‘Express.’
What computerisation means to the process is that the results can be published in five days. Now it takes 15-20 days. ‘’Of course, now the written tests are conducted simultaneously on a single day. Once computers are introduced, we will have to spread the test over a number of days,’’ Gupta said.
To prevent foul play at any level, three sets of officers will be handling the computerised tests. One set will give a code to each candidate’s online answer sheet; a second set will evaluate it and a third set of officers will do the decoding.
At present, the Army recruits youngsters - males only; women are selected only in the officer category which is a different selection process altogether - to various categories such as Soldier General Duty and Technical; Soldier Clerk, Soldier Nursing etc.
‘’The candidates will be made to practice on the computers before they sit for the test. The method is simple, multiple choice questions on the lines of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati’, for example. But the nature of questions differ on the categories involved,’’ Gupta said.
The Army is also in the process of automating other recruitment procedures such as registration of candidates which are now done manually, he said.
Recently, the Army had introduced biometric identification for candidates.