Kerala Public Service Commission has announced a radical restructuring of its examination system. From December, the tests will be held in two stages: A preliminary screening test and a final test for those who clear the prelims.
The final rank list will be based on the marks of the second test only. The marks of the prelims will not count.
The basic plan is to have a common screening test for all jobs that require similar qualification, which will considerably whittle down the number of candidates writing the final job test.
So jobs like LD clerk and village field assistant, which have 10th standard as the basic qualification, will have a common preliminary exam. Jobs like civil police officer, civil excise officer, fireman and forest range officer, for which 12th standard is the basic qualification, will have another common preliminary examination.
Similarly, jobs like secretariat assistant, university assistant and company corporation board assistant, which have a degree as the minimum qualification, will have another common examination.
As it stands, there is no screening test. Lakhs appear for a single job test; 19-20 lakh for every test with 10th as minimum qualification, 15 lakh for every test with plus two as the basic requirement, and 5-7 lakh for every test that requires at least a degree.
Now the candidates eligible to appear for jobs in categories within a specific grade are picked from the common prelims conducted for that grade. The number of candidates qualified to appear for the final test in specific job categories (LD clerk, village field assistant) within a specific grade (10th standard minimum) will be selected from the prelims for that category.
So if now 19 lakh appear for an LD clerk test, for which 10th is basic qualification, it will be written only by a few thousands henceforth. PSC chairman M K Sakeer said it would both save cost and quicken the announcement of results.
The new system will be implemented in examinations that the PSC will conduct from December. The prelims for the '10th standard minimum category' will be the first to be held.
The PSC chairman also said that the preliminary test results of the first Kerala Administrative Service exam will be announced on August 26.
