With the Combined Graduate Level Examination 2013 continuing to generate controversy, it escaped me that the CHSL Examination commenced today. But, with the SSC Examinations becoming lotteries with huge difference in the difficulty levels of question papers of different sessions, the candidates pray for allotment to sessions which will have easy question papers. Anyway, my belated Best Wishes and Good Luck to the aspirants who took the CHLE 2014 today and all those who will take the examination on 9th and 16th November. I have received several hundred messages on FB about the results of Written Examination of CGLE 2013, which has been dogged by controversies continuously. The issue this time is whether it is at all practical to have such high cut offs for interview and non interview posts in the written examination and whether it is probable that the successful candidates of certain centres, especially Delhi, outnumber others. The problem is compounded by FB posts on the alleged approach of several candidates in CGLE and CHSL by vested interests in SSC and outside, promising very high marks in the written examination. I have not found any of these allegations to be valid though names and roll nos have been emailed to me in confidence. With the happenings of the past 18 months in the SSC when the Commission initially showed ineptitude in handling court cases on CGLE 2013, transparency levels gradually coming down due to inexplicable decisions by a ‘candidate-friendly’ Commission, vast disparity in standard of the question papers of the CGLE 2014 Tier I and the ‘Commission’ surrounded and possibly advised by a few officials suspected to be of doubtful integrity, the confidence of the SSC aspirants in the Commission is at its lowest. I had carried out a primitive assessment of the difficulty levels of the papers used in the CGLE 2014- Tier I. While the papers of 26th October were of almost the same difficult level, the paper in the AN of 19th was at least 15% more difficult and the Paper of FN of 19th was about 50% more difficult than the papers of 26th. I do not claim to be an expert in such matters but a mere look at the question papers of 19th FN and any paper of 26th by an average intelligent person, like me, will lead to the same view. SSC will be well advised to have the matter looked into by an Expert Group of Psychometricians so that such huge difference in standard in papers of different sessions can be avoided in future. None of my suggestions has been accepted by the SSC so far but it does not deter me from giving suggestions in the interests of the Commission itself and the millions of job aspirants who faithfully flock to its examinations, month after month. I had received information early this year that there is an organized racket of impersonation in some regional offices. There is a widespread feeling that impersonation in SSC Examinations is rampant now. I had- I still have- faith in the integrity of majority of officers of the SSC; but my confidence was shaken when a government official recently asked me whether an officer of the SSC can indeed change the category status of his ward, as was promised by the officer. With the ‘Commission’ thinking that monitoring the confidential work is below its dignity- the ‘Commission’ had reportedly removed the facility of monitoring the activities in the confidential section through the CCTV system from the chambers of senior officers- the bad elements in the SSC may be rearing their heads again. I am not one for maintaining status quo but any change should lead to improvement and should not be a retrograde step. It is time the “Commission’ takes a good look at itself and start taking measures to improve the candidates’ confidence. I saw a post by a candidate of CGLE 2013 on FB today. He has been selected for interview but still has no faith in the SSC. This should send a clear message. Let me come to CGLE 2013 written results. A competitive examination is not a qualifying examination. It should help in separating the grain from the chaff. It should help in separating the meritorious candidates from those not so meritorious. The high- in the minds of the job aspirants abnormally high- cut offs send the message that something g is seriously wrong when nothing may actually be wrong. If the intention is to make the candidates feel good after the examination on the day of the examination easy papers will serve that purpose. There are established methods of checking whether the questions have met the principles of reliability and validity. Theoretically, high cut offs are possible like the very high scoring possible in Higher Secondary Examination in my own home state. Cut offs are not pre-determined but they are ascertained after the result is finalized. It is not really a cut off but the lowest mark obtained by a candidate belonging to different categories AFTER the results are finalized. Each recruiting body has its own policy on ratio of posts or tentative or likely posts to number of candidates selected in intermediate stages. For example, UPSC selects candidates for interview in CSE in the ratio of 2.5 to 1 and SSC in the ratio of 1.5 to 1. After the result is finalized following the ratio, the lowest marks are ascertained in each category and given out as the cut offs. Northern Region and Central Region account for two-thirds of selected candidates in every examination of SSC. The success of candidates of Delhi has been attributed to the large number of good coaching centres in Delhi primarily and frauds of different types partially. Unfortunately, Post Examination Analysis appears to have been given a go-by in the SSC since 2013 and the fear of detection of fraudsters- except impersonators who cannot be detected using this method- is no longer there. With the transparent procedure of display of marks of all candidates having been dispensed with going back to the method prevalent in 2009- a retrograde step without any dispute- detection of organized cheating in any particular centre by the public through analysis of marks is no longer possible and the gangs of fraudsters operate freely. Unfortunately, the gangs include a few supervisors of SSC venues too as has been seen from newspaper reports on arrests of a few gangs. The cut offs depend on the difficulty levels of question papers, the comparative performance of the candidates, the number of posts and the ratio between posts and candidates for the next stage applied by the recruiting agency. The question papers of Tier II of CGLE were certainly easier than CGLE 2012’s and the candidates had ample time to prepare because of court cases and theoretically it is possible to have high cut offs. Yet, with thousands of candidates questioning the huge difference in cut offs of 2012 and 2013 examination, SSC should have an internal audit and verify whether anything was amiss or whether there is no cause for worry. They should especially see whether candidates of any sub-centre(s) have outscored others in terms of marks or % of success. The Commission should also check whether the checks and balances to verify confidential work have been dispensed with or are still in place. About 21000 candidates have been selected for interview, document verification for Non Interview Posts and DEST for TA. In 2012 Examination the number was much more as about 10000 candidates were selected for DEST for TA alone; yet several hundred posts remained vacant. We all learn from past experience and to prevent a situation when over 1500 TA posts may remain unfilled, the Commission should have good look at the possibility of calling more candidates for the post of TA alone. Personally I learnt a lesson in CGL 2013 Re-examination. One should never venture to make a guesstimate of the cut off in the present SSC scenario. I know that nothing may come out of this post too as the ‘Commission’ does not like to follow any advice from outside, as seen in the past 18 months. Yet, I have the satisfaction that I am doing my duty.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 16:01:42 +0000
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