The decision by the Jharkhand government to finally cancel all the exams conducted by a private testing agency, TDPL, should result in the calling off of the 24-day agitation by job seekers who were protesting against the leak of question papers in the JSSC-CGL exams. The agitators also want a CBI enquiry, but when the exams have been cancelled and the agency blacklisted, it makes little sense for a CBI enquiry.
Exam Paper Leaks
Examination paper leaks have become a national malaise, with people losing faith in all exams conducted by the government. The central government has appointed some experts to suggest ways to conduct a leak-proof national examination.
This is not the first time that panels have been appointed, and this has become a vicious cycle. Students and job seekers spend their entire youth writing one exam after another only to be told that the exams have been cancelled, like in Jharkhand and earlier in Bengal, and the cycle starts again.
This points to the rot in the bureaucracy and government. Coaching institutes, which have sprouted all over, spreading out in an enlarging radius out of the small town called Kota in Rajasthan, have replaced colleges and schools in importance.
The CBSC and state exams are not taken seriously by students who throng these institutes to mug up hundreds of model question papers throughout the year. Such coaching institutes in dingy lanes in small towns also promise students that question papers will be leaked to them and, hence, their market value.
Proposed Changes To Exams
Various solutions have been suggested, but the basic thing is to bring back the importance of the CBSC and state school exams, like the SSLC. An educational expert has suggested that only those above 80 per cent marks in the school finals should be allowed to take the NEET, JEET and other exams for major colleges, and the rest should write the state-level exams for state colleges.
For job exams like the JSCC, which all states have, the cut-offs for applicants must be toughened to reduce their number. Extracurricular achievements in sports and arts should also be considered during cut-offs, which will help create confident students. This will also keep students out of dingy, shady coaching institutes.
The CBSC and state school exam results should be the final arbiter. Tamil Nadu has been demanding such a system and the cancellation of NEET and JEET for a long time. Many job applicants spend 5 to 6 years of their youth doing nothing but writing various exams in search of the elusive government jobs.
A Nation Of Exam Writers
With the unemployment rate spiralling up, conducting national or state-level job exams has become an impossible challenge to surmount. India has become an exam-writing nation. To the larger problems facing the country, there are only questions, no answers.
