Kozhikode: The Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) has withdrawn the holding of preliminary examinations for LD Clerk and Last Grade posts for which most candidates apply. With this, it has done away with the experiment, and there will be no preliminary exam for the posts that have a Class 10 pass as the basic qualification. The PSC had earlier withdrawn the preliminary exam for the posts, which have Plus Two as the basic qualification.
The new facility dispenses with the same candidate writing preliminary and main exams. Such persons can now find a place in the rank list by writing just one exam. To deal with the problem of a large number of candidates turning up, 'one exam for three districts' scheme will be implemented. However, it is still not clear whether there will be a preliminary exam for posts that have degree as the basic qualification.
PSC had started conducting the preliminary exam two years ago. There were allegations from the beginning that the experiment was an utter flop. When the same exam is conducted in different phases, candidates are sometimes eliminated en masse.
The information obtained by Malayala Manorama through an RTI application revealed that when the result of the preliminary exam, which was conducted for the posts with Class 10 as the basic qualification, was published, those who had written the exam in phases three and five were completely eliminated.
The PSC cited the huge number of applicants for the exam, the ease of publishing results, and the reduced expenses as the reasons for conducting the preliminary exam. However, its current withdrawal from the mode indicates that the experiment could not meet any such objective. However, when the experiment is wound up, the candidates who got eliminated through the mode in the last two years will likely take legal recourse against it.
What is a preliminary exam?
A preliminary exam is conducted for posts having the same qualifications. Those who qualify are selected and asked to appear for a main exam. Usually, the rank list includes candidates who have obtained the cut-off marks according to which the appointment is made.
Since a large number of candidates apply, the preliminary exam is conducted in phases. However, the issue was that those appearing in certain phases used to get questions with a Class 10 difficulty level, while in other phases it had to attempt ones with a higher level.