Candidates allege anomalies in PSC exam for asst professors in English
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The exam for the post of assistant professor in English held by the Public Service Commission on November 5 has stirred up a hornet’s nest where the question booklet and also the individual question booklet were not allegedly sealed.
The applicants have alleged that apart from this, the pattern for the exam was also not published catching them unawares. Contrary to the earlier objective type exam, this time it was changed to descriptive mode. More than 3,000 candidates had applied for the assistant professor post called by the PSC which saw 2,200 appearing for the written test held across the state on November 5.
Only in minimal centres, the invigilators had shown the question booklet and also the individual question booklet before the applicants to ensure that they were sealed and ready to be opened. Also, in examination centres there was a coding system from A - D, but the irony was that when the question papers were distributed they did not have the codes.
An applicant who appeared for the written test at Manacaud Teachers Training Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, told TNIE that the assistant professor exam held on November 5 was full of anomalies. “Usually the question booklet and the individual question booklet have to be opened only before the candidates. But in this case here, it was already opened and only a day after the exam, the majority of us realised that the exam was not held in a fool-proof manner.
Also, two weeks before the exam, the PSC should have come out with the exam pattern which also did not happen”, said an applicant. Prof N M Babu, retired senior faculty in English from University College, Thiruvananthapuram, told TNIE that several of his former students from across the state had appeared for the assistant professor exam.
He informed that since the exam has been made descriptive even half a mark is crucial for the applicants where it should not have been held in haste during the pandemic. “With the candidates creating much hue and cry over the anomalies in the assistant professor exam, the PSC has realised its mistake and come out with anticipatory bail.
The PSC claimed that efforts are on to trace those behind the audio clip being circulated against the PSC on the conduct of the assistant professor exam. Instead of initiating a vigilance probe within the PSC, they are targeting the applicants who have raised their genuine concerns”, said Prof Babu, who has been an employee of PSC prior to becoming a professor. PSC chairman M K Sakeer was not available for comments.