Chennai: After huge scale malpractices were found in the Tamilnadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) exams, the State’s recruitment agency today announced a host of changes in the examination pattern. Several factors including the number of exams, time, the category of answers have been revamped.
New steps have been taken to improve the security of the exam process to avoid any kind of tampering. A press release from the TNPSC said, ”For Group IV and Group 2A, exam was conducted on General Knowledge. This will now be conducted in two phases- preliminary and main exam.” The timings for the exam have also been changed.
”The candidates will have to report an hour early, that is, at 9 am for the exam which will be held between 10 am and 1 pm. Those who arrive late will not be allowed to appear for the exam.”
If two exams are conducted on the same day, the second exam will be held at 3 pm, the release said. The TNPSC malpractice was carried out through re-shading the answers by certain agents. To tackle this, here after, TNPSC candidates will have to attend all the questions and the Commission is ruling out the option of leaving any question blank. Apart from options A,B,C and D, it has introduced an option ‘E’. Those who do not know the answer should mark ‘E’.
The press release said, the answer sheet of those who fail to mark any one answer will be considered invalid. The candidates will be provided an extra sheet in which they must make note of the number of As, Bs, Cs, Ds and Es they have shaded so that the invigilators can tally accordingly.
Extra minutes will be given to all candidates to fill in the sheet, the release said.
The Commission is planning to have fingerprint scanners to note the candidate. GPS and CCTV surveillance will also be introduced. A control room to monitor the exam process will be part of the new security measures taken. TNPSC will soon open a website so that candidates can share concerns or pass on any information to the commission. It may be noted that, a huge scam rocked the TNPSC recently.
The CB-CID is investigating the alleged large scale malpractice in TNPSC examinations, including the 2019 Group IV exam, 2017 Group 2A exam and the 2016 VAO test. Currently, over 47 people, including agents, government staff and candidates have been arrested.
The main accused Jayakumar of Mugappair is said to have taken Rs 5.83 crore from various candidates who wanted to clear the TNPSC exam through fraud. Jayakumar had given a special ink pen to the candidates. He later re-marked the answers with the help of Omkanthan, a Record Clerk who was in-charge of transporting the answer sheet bundles from Rameswaram to Chennai.