The Staff Selection Commission has confirmed that it will not annul the recent Selection Post Phase 13 examination; however, a retest may be conducted for candidates who were not given a “fair chance,” as stated by Chairman S Gopalakrishnan on Monday amidst protests regarding the mismanagement of the test.
Additionally, the Commission has reached out to the exam vendor, Eduquity Career Technologies, requesting that the company address all reported issues that occurred during the testing period from July 24 to August 1.
“We are currently analyzing the data. If we identify even a single candidate who has been wronged, we will arrange for a retest for them,” the Chairman remarked.
The SSC is a statutory organization responsible for conducting recruitment examinations for various positions within ministries, departments, and other governmental entities.
The Phase 13 examination, which took place from July 24 to August 1 at 194 centers across 142 cities, faced numerous challenges, including sudden cancellations, software malfunctions, failures in biometric verification, and incorrect center assignments. Approximately 500,000 candidates participated in the examination during this period.
“We are currently analyzing the data. If we identify even a single candidate who has been wronged, we will arrange for a retest for them,” the Chairman reiterated.
In related news, Nagaland University has introduced a new ‘Master of Arts programme in Language and Culture’; further details about the course can be found online.
The SSC is a statutory organization responsible for conducting recruitment examinations for various positions within ministries, departments, and other governmental entities.
The Phase 13 examination, which took place from July 24 to August 1 at 194 centers across 142 cities, faced numerous challenges, including sudden cancellations, software malfunctions, failures in biometric verification, and incorrect center assignments. Approximately 500,000 candidates participated in the examination during this period.
In an interview with ANI, the Chairman acknowledged the mismanagement issues, which included technical difficulties and the assignment of distant centers to candidates. He assured that all problems would be addressed in the upcoming months, stating, “We will correct and plan in the coming months.”
To tackle the immediate issue faced by candidates, supplementary tests were conducted on August 2 across three shifts.
Two centers, one located in Delhi (Pawan Ganga) and another in Uttar Pradesh (Educasa), experienced total cancellations, impacting approximately 2,500 students.
On August 2, around 16,600 candidates were slated for the retest; however, only 8,048 attended, resulting in a 60 percent attendance rate.
The Chairman indicated that the SSC would arrange another re-test for the candidates affected, if deemed necessary.
Chairman Gopalakrishnan acknowledged the existence of “teething problems” with the new vendor and stated that penalties would be enforced for shortcomings such as system freezes and mouse failures.
Nevertheless, he dismissed requests from candidates and educators to dismiss the vendor.
“I cannot remove them based on a single test. How will I manage examinations in the forthcoming weeks? I would need to issue a new tender, and it would take until December to finalize a company. Until then, what should I do?” he inquired.
“We have observed an enhancement in the vendor’s performance over the past week. There were challenges during the initial days, but they have since been addressed,” he remarked.
In response to worries regarding the application of Artificial Intelligence in question selection, the SSC clarified that only a basic AI system is employed to prevent question repetition, with each question labeled with metadata.
Students claimed that the implementation of AI resulted in the recurrence of questions.
The SSC stated that it depends on logs, CCTV recordings, and electronic data analysis to maintain the integrity of examinations, with network systems accessible to the commission and monitored in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC).
The SSC remains optimistic that the forthcoming examinations will proceed smoothly and without interruptions.
“In this examination, we have identified potential issues. The upcoming exams scheduled for August 6-8 will be significantly less disruptive. There will be 350,000 candidates participating in the upcoming exams,” he concluded.
