THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) examinations deferred due to lockdown are slated to be conducted from June. But the PSC authorities are yet to finalise the dates, given their plan to conduct examinations after public transportation is allowed. Social distancing norms and health department instructions will be followed.
According to the PSC decision, examinations with fewer candidates will be conducted online in June itself while those with more applicants will be held from August using Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) answer sheets. The PSC had earlier scheduled 26 examinations for 62 posts in government departments in March, April and May. A meeting led by PSC chairman M K Sakeer decided to begin the conduct of deferred examinations in June and July so that preparations could be made to conduct examinations with a high number of candidates in August.
As the question papers for the deferred examinations were printed before March, the authorities cannot shelve them for too long. For the last grade examination, as many as 6.90 lakh applications have been received. Originally scheduled to be held in September, it is now planned for either October or November. The validity of the existing rank list for the category is set to expire in June 2021.
As per details available with the PSC, there are 1.07 lakh applicants for lower primary teaching posts and 36,000 for upper primary posts. The existing rank lists for the two categories will expire in December 2021. For the post of staff nurse in the health department, a total of 73,000 candidates have applied. That examination also needs to be conducted this year, with the existing rank list set to expire in July 2021. The PSC authorities plan to complete the lower division clerk and last grade examinations before the end of November this year.
The highest number of applicants is for LD clerk, with 18.6 lakh candidates having applied this year. The existing validity of the rank list will expire in April 2021. So the new rank list can be published only after that date. However, the huge challenge before the PSC is the conduct of examinations for posts in the police and excise departments as they require physical test along with the written examination. The validity of the rank list is one year. The PSC will take a decision on this very soon, sources said.
Fast facts
If candidates are fewer, exams to be held online
Exams with more applicants to be held from August using OMR sheets
6.90 lakh applications received for last grade examination, which is now planned for Oct or Nov
1.07 L applicants for lower primary teaching posts; 36,000 for upper primary
73,000 applicants for post of staff nurse in health dept