THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the absence of clear guidelines either from the government or from the Public Service Commission about the recognised institutes providing DCA Certificate Course, the private computer training institutes across the state are continuing to cheat the students.
The computer training institutes, which were struggling to survive in the absence of required number of admissions till recently, have started finding a heavy rush of students for the DCA course ever since the eligibility for the Secretariat Assistant Post has been modifited as Degree and Diploma in Computer Application (DCA).
However the government and the PSC could not release the list of recognised institutions offering DCA so far, though the GO, modifying the eligibility, was issued more than six months ago.
It was following the repeated requests from the aspiring candidates that the PSC asked the government to provide a list of recognised institutes. Later, the government asked the Technical Education Department Director to identify the institutes which offer valid DCA certificate courses. However, the Technical Education Department has not finalised the list so far.
In the absence of a directive from the government, the institutes are collecting disproportionate fee for the course.
Even though the students complete the course and obtain the certificates, money and time spent by them would be wasted if the institutes are denied recognition by the Technical Education Department.
Meanwhile, the many candidates who want to appear for the next PSC examination for the Secretariat Assistant post have found that some institutes are providing DCA certificates without conducting the class for the stipulated period of six months.
They said that an institute in the capital city, which has a branch in Kollam also, had issued an advertisement on December 21 inviting applications for admission to the DCA course, stating that examination would be held in March.
When the students enquired whether it would be possible to get the certificate after attending the course for just three months, they said that they would be providing the certificates with an earlier date as date of admission. “If the govt is insisting on the DCA eligibility for the Secretariat Assistants to improve their efficiency, it should have ensured that the courses to be conducted in a stipulated period of six moths,” K Pradeep, an aspiring candidate told Express. He also said that if the Government was serious about the modified eligibility, it could have avoided the muddle by asking the candidates to ensure that they attain the eligibility before getting appointed in the govt service, instead of insisting on the same even before the examination.