Aspirants protest over UPPSC exam, slams authorities for failing to take concrete action 

Protesters demand UPPSC exams in single shift to prevent unfair normalization process and question paper leaks

Hundreds of aspirants on Monday (October 21, 2024) protested outside the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) office in Prayagraj demanding conduct of the coming Review Officer/Assistant Review Officer (RO/ARO) and UPPSC examination in a single shift.

Aspirants alleged that the Commission wanted to conduct the examination in multiple shifts to hide its failures. They said that normalisation of marks would be done in case of multiple shifts, resulting in increased or decreased marks for candidates appearing in a specific shift, which was “unfair” and harmed the interests of other candidates.

Also read: It is time to fix the UPSC selection process

“The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission has always conducted exams in one shift and one day since its inception. But now the exam date has been changed for the third time and on top of that, conducting it in two shifts for two days is not a fair process. The government should listen to the candidates. Despite several demands , the Uttar Pradesh government and Public Service Commission have not yet taken any concrete steps to conduct the preliminary examinations of UPPCS and RO/ARO in one day and one shift. Due to the complexities of the normalisation process, students are facing constant mental harassment, which is completely unfair,” said Deepak Singh, an aspirant. 

Protesters further claimed that chances of question paper leaking are less in a single shift examination.

Roughly 12 lakh candidates are likely to appear for the RP/ARO paper, which was cancelled earlier this year due to alleged question paper leak. 

“Our demand from the Uttar Pradesh government and the Public Service Commission is that both the UPPCS 2024 and RO/ARO 2023 examinations should be conducted in the month of December and in one shift only. Almost one year of the students have been wasted already,” said Anurag Tiwari, another protester. 

Opposition Congress said that wrong attitude of UPPCS forced students to come on the streets. “Should aspirants protest or study? The protest of aspirants signifies that the public service commission and government failed them. Earlier, the examination was cancelled wasting almost a year of aspirants, now doubts and fear of candidates regarding the process of conducting the paper is not addressed, which forced them to come on streets,” said Anil Yadav, U.P. Congress General Secretary.

Published - October 21, 2024 09:12 pm IST