SSC Row: Is It a Sin to Dream of Government Jobs & a Clean System?

You may have heard about the SSC stir, but do you really know what lies at the heart of the students’ uprising?

(Photo: The Quint)

You may think you’ve known and understood all about SSC examinations in the wake of the recent uproar by students in the streets. And you may feel that you understand their demands and pain in equal measure, caused partly by hours spent in the scorching Delhi sun.

But the knowledge you have heretofore gathered on SSC could be wrong. Completely wrong.

• SSC CGL (Combined Graduate Level Examination): Approximately 30 lakh candidates with only about 8,000 vacancies.
• SSC MTS (Multi Tasking Staff Examination): Approximately 70 lakh candidates with only about 8,000 vacancies.

Do you see the difference between the number of vacancies and the vast number of those who aspire to fill them? In this light, it would be fitting to rename the Staff Selection Commission to Staff Elimination Commission, a system marred by a poor success ratio.

But SSC exams aren’t the only black spot in the entire system. A massive shortfall in government jobs, coupled with rising unemployment has set off a rat race for the simplest of jobs and the admission processes that precede them.

In fact, some feel that securing a government job is akin to aiming for the moon.

One major fallout of this elimination spree is the advent of tactics and unfair means, infamously known as judaad in everyday Hindi.

So parallel to throat-cut competition are equally nefarious means to secure jobs. Sometimes, they are employed by coaching institutes. Sometimes, in collusion with those within the system.

Combined Graduate Level, Combined Higher Secondary Level, Central Police Officer and Multi-Tasking Staff – exams to all these verticals are conducted by the SSC. In 2017, out of around 30 lakhs students who enrolled for the CGS exam, around 1,90,000 cleared the preliminary round and had to appear for an online test.

Students who took the exam say questions surfaced on the web around 15 minutes before the exam started. Subsequently, the online test was cancelled, citing technical glitches, and was rescheduled at about 12:30 pm the same day.

When students came out, they learnt that questions for even this exam were leaked. They also alleged that some candidates were favoured in exchange for bribes. Their answer sheets were solved at a remote location by someone else.

Such malpractice cannot take place without the involvement of SSC officials. The students are are out the streets, protesting against those setting their future on fire.

If the government and officials sitting behind glass windows think that students will keep quiet, they're wrong.

The writings on the placards they hold are much more than what they seem. The government talks about Digital India, but its preparation is worse than the stone age.

Till when will the future of students be played with? Is it a sin to dream of a job in this country?

What's a more terrible thing: to dream of a clean system
or to vote for a government that fools the young after coming to power on youthful promises?

(This story was first published on Hindi Quint.)