By H H Mohrmen
A young lady who holds a Master’s degree in Social Work after having made her first attempt on a written test conducted by a certain District Selection Committee (DSC) in Jaintia hills, came to me dejected and said that she is done with applying for jobs advertised by the DSC. The young lady was appalled by what she saw and promised herself that she would not apply for any job call by this Committee and would have nothing more to do with the DSC.
This could be one reaction of the many young people who make their first attempt at the written test conducted by DSCs. Often they are left with a bad taste in the mouth. Any candidate who appears for such a test is in a dilemma because the youth are left with only two options. One option is (like the young lady disgusted by what she saw) to decide to forget and rubbish any job advertisement or call by the DSCs or they can join the band wagon. Its like the famous quote, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”
We have seen with our own eyes how young people fresh from school or college, agog with hopes of living an honest life, appear for the tests only to find their cherished ideals challenged. The ideals of living a life of integrity is put to the test, and in one fell swoop their dreams are shattered just like that. It is an open secret that many written tests conducted by the DSCs are not fair. There is open mass copying of answers by the candidates while invigilators turned a Nelson’s eye to these acts of commission by remaining mute spectators to what is going on in the examination hall.
Of late with the advent of technology young people who appear for the written tests conducted by the DSCs make the best use of their smart phones to help them cheat in the examination. The modus operandi is that the candidate photographs the questions and sends them to friends and relatives through whatsapp. They in turn google the answers and send them back to the candidates in the hall via whatsapp.
Many young people after appearing for such tests succumb to the pressure and follow what others were doing and blame the system, while few others avoids applying for government jobs through DSC altogether. But the majority take the easy way out and follow what their friends were doing and start indulging in unfair means. In such situations can we offer any hope to the young people? Still the most important question is; if this is how we recruit people, then what kind of future is in store for the state? Not only are the youths left without hopes but even elders who see how the system is manipulated are disheartened and resigned to their fates and blame the system. It is indeed easy to just blame the system and avoid having to do anything with it, but the question is will that bring a desired change?
I was in such a situation when few years ago a friend who was an MLA then sent a feeler requesting me to accept his nomination to be the member of the DSC of Jaintia hills district. When the offer came to me I could not help but ask myself, “Why me?” Then I realized that the politician friend is indeed very shrewd. He knew of my capacity to influence and hoped that my membership in the DSC would help many job aspirants from his constituency to get the job. I was also aware of what was going on and admitted that with the prevailing system, I will neither be able to bring change nor can I do anything to improve the system. I politely rejected his offer and later when I shared this story with some of my friends, they were stunned. They called me fool and said that there is no other person more stupid than I was. They also regretfully suggested that I should have taken the job and at least helped some of my relatives get appointed in some government job. When I replied that ‘that was precisely the reason why I rejected the offer, they kept mum.’
Considering that now thousands of educated youths are applying for every job advertised, it is the duty of the government to ensure fairness and provide a level playing field for all the candidates applying for the job. The Deputy Commissioner West Jaintia hills although he was only recently appointed DC, is aware of what is going on in such exams and in his effort to improve the way the test is conducted, he personally visited the centres where the test was held and caught some candidates indulging in unfair means. The candidates were duly punished and it did not stop there. Making the best use of available technology the DC put the key answers to the questions online for everyone to see. In the past DSCs received many RTI requests but with the key answers available now online, the candidates can compare their scores. Now this is the beginning of a transparent process and a beginning is made to change the system. Unlike many of us who rued that the system has failed us and do nothing but crib here is a Deputy Commissioner who is attempting to change the system.
When the outcome of the written test conducted by the DSC was posted on DC office’s facebook page, suggestions were made to go one step further and get the personal interviews recorded on video or perhaps even considering installing CCTVs in the room. Some young people complained that those who attend interviews were sometime asked silly questions by members in the interview board. Candidates especially young girls complained they were even asked question like whether they have boyfriends or if they are married? The DC was quick to respond and reminded that personal interviews carry only 30 marks while written tests carry 270 marks. He also said that CCTVs can only record images and not sound, so if the intention is to record the entire proceedings of the interview, CCTV will not serve the purpose.
It is therefore imperative that those who conduct the tests should ensure fairness in the way the written tests are conducted and that every candidate is given an equal opportunity. The crux of the matter is how the written tests are conducted and if there was fairness therein. If the tests are conducted as desired then half the battle is won. If the DSCs and MPSC could only ensure that written tests are conducted in a fair and transparent manner, candidates selected for government jobs would improve.
One only hopes that other DSCs, the MPSC and even police recruitment make the best use of technology to improve the process of selection of candidates for their respective posts. Using the technology available, if the CBSE can conduct tests like NEET for lakhs of students in the whole country without any glitch, what prevent the DSCs, the MPSC or board for recruitment of candidates for Police force and nurses in the health department from adopting the same technology? Using this available technology one also hopes that the MPSC will not take ages to conduct interviews for one job. West Jaintia hills district can serve as a model that the process can be completed in time without delay and causing much inconvenience to the youths of the state by making use of technology.
In fact Jowai or West Jaintia hills in particular is fortunate to have a techno-savvy DC who is constantly interacting with the public online. His facebook page Deputy Commissioner’s office West Jaintia hills has huge followers and residents of the district particularly youths are making suggestions and complaints through the DC’s facebook page and Whatsapp account. Now all officers in the district are active on social media and at least have a Whatsapp account because the DC is communicating with them through that medium.