Editorial
Recruitment riddled with leaked questions
PSC won't be ruffled!
Another recruitment examination under Public Service Commission is shrouded in controversy. It relates to written test for sub-registrar recruitment. Leakage of question papers set for PSC examinations has become commonplace taking into account the earlier instances of it. We had expressed our shock and disbelief over the previous occurrences hoping that the authorities would take precautions against the malaise. But to our dismay we witness another controversy raging with the candidates alleging foul-play with question papers while the PSC denying it has happened at all. Three well-founded complaints about Xeroxed sets of question papers tallying, for the most part, with the original versions supplied at the test venues over a period of seven months is not to be trifled with. We want to know what or who is behind such a malady.What seems most intriguing is the manner in which the question papers were leaked or the authority handled the matter after the expose. Every time someone tipped off the police they detained a few persons allegedly involved in photocopying and selling the leaked question papers. This was accompanied by a standard denial from the exam conducting authority. They hardly ever tried to get to the bottom of the scandals. Take for instance, the latest incident. The PSC has shrugged off the leak as just a 'rumour', adding that the photo-stated questions were mere 'suggestions'. As such, they are reluctant to cancel the exam. In the case of BCS question papers having seen the light of the day before time in August, the PSC had similarly refused to own up to it and cancel the examination. The finger of suspicion nonetheless gets pointed to insiders either in the PSC or in the government press or most probably both -- in some kind of a nexus. But who is going to work on the leads when a hush-hush is the convenient deflector? It is time the government delved deeper into the matter and carried out a scooping investigation into the system in order to plug the holes. Unless all this is done, we are afraid, such allegations of leaks would surface over and over again. Resultantly, the sanctity of public examinations as a credible medium for recruitment of people to the republic's services, solely on the basis of merit, will be lost in the wilderness.
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