Kohima | July 1 : Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) has come up with a proposal for examination reform after finding ‘defects’ in the current system. The commission conducted a seminar today at Japfu Hotel, where serious discussions took place on the matter.
Chief Secretary of Nagaland Lalthara, Additional Chief Secretary Banuo Z Jamir, Special Secretary to Governor CJ Ponraj, representatives of All Nagaland Private College Forum, NSF, ANCSU, ENSF, PGSU, All Nagaland Government College Teachers Association and other senior government officials along with members of NPSC attended the event.
During the seminar, the commission pointed out ‘imperfections’ in the present system. The existing pattern of examination for NCS/NPS/NSS and allied services has three stages of recruitment. They are the preliminaries, the main examinations and the interview (or ‘Viva Voce’). In the second stage, the MCQ does not provide any scope to assess the candidate adequately on critical thinking, analytical skills and intelligence and creative solutions to the challenges, which are required of a civil servant (UPSC for that matter still practices descriptive mode of examination).
There are also chances in MCQ type of examinations that high performance in a particular discipline does not prepare a candidate to be a good civil servant as it only tests knowledge of the aspirant on a particular subject. Moreover, there in no uniformity in the level of the question, setting and marking system while scores secured by the candidate in their respective optional subjects determines the overall position of the result. This point gives them advantage over others.
Another defect the commission pointed out was that the moderation of the marks secured by the candidates by applying scaling also proved to be an inaccurate medium to balance the marking system. In one of its rulings, the Supreme Court has declared the scaling system as irrational and arbitrary.
Adding that no public service commission’s question paper is error free, the commission said the NPSC faces enormous problems such as delay in the declaration of the result on time, when large number of optional subjects are involved and many errors are detected. This problem normally takes place in the preliminary stage where large a number of MCQ questions is set as well as in the Mains examination with a huge number of optional subjects. The adoption of the MCQ pattern in the main examination, which has 31 optional subjects, only paves way for complaints and this becomes too demanding for the commission to function effectively, thereby delaying the section process, the NPSC said.
The commission mulls change in the pattern of examination and content on priority. These included switching over from the MCQ to descriptive types in the main examination. The importance the commission feels is that the candidate can be given room to express creatively and critically. Secondly, the content has to be enriched by providing a common syllabus. This is a ‘level playing field’ where a candidate is expected to know wide areas of studies to be a competent civil servant, the commission explained.
Chief Secretary Lalthara said arriving at a consensus is difficult. Optional papers should be done away with, he explained; because they lead to ‘outsourcing’ and tests have to be assessed while maintaining uniformity. The chief secretary also opined that setting questions has to be reasonable having mixture of questions in MCQ as MCQ provides more scope to ask more questions at lesser time. He said the candidate should have the ability in not only writing but also expression; speaking and pronunciation should also be accounted as plus-points, he said.
Additional Chief Secretary & Commissioner Banuo Z Jamir said NPSC should have specific books for candidates to refer to, as Nagaland does not have a research paper or syllabus undertaking by the university. A sort of analytical grammar is required, she said, and opined that inclusion of Grammar is needed for uniformity of the marking system.
Special Secretary to Governor CJ Ponraj also opined that examinations should be knowledge-oriented and based on managerial skills, incorporating real talent itself. Examinations should be purely on merit identifying the talents of the candidates, who can be instrumental in the service of the public and take challenges ‘without bias’ to the urban and rural areas, he said.
A member of the ENSF also said students are left out (Science and Commerce) and suggested emphasis on both streams. Grammar is very important not forgetting personality, aptitude and attitude test during interviews, he said.
Many members of the house suggested inclusion of science and commerce. However, the commission said that ‘enough space’ for professional subjects is given to the science candidates.
Chief Secretary of Nagaland Lalthara, Additional Chief Secretary Banuo Z Jamir, Special Secretary to Governor CJ Ponraj, representatives of All Nagaland Private College Forum, NSF, ANCSU, ENSF, PGSU, All Nagaland Government College Teachers Association and other senior government officials along with members of NPSC attended the event.
During the seminar, the commission pointed out ‘imperfections’ in the present system. The existing pattern of examination for NCS/NPS/NSS and allied services has three stages of recruitment. They are the preliminaries, the main examinations and the interview (or ‘Viva Voce’). In the second stage, the MCQ does not provide any scope to assess the candidate adequately on critical thinking, analytical skills and intelligence and creative solutions to the challenges, which are required of a civil servant (UPSC for that matter still practices descriptive mode of examination).
There are also chances in MCQ type of examinations that high performance in a particular discipline does not prepare a candidate to be a good civil servant as it only tests knowledge of the aspirant on a particular subject. Moreover, there in no uniformity in the level of the question, setting and marking system while scores secured by the candidate in their respective optional subjects determines the overall position of the result. This point gives them advantage over others.
Another defect the commission pointed out was that the moderation of the marks secured by the candidates by applying scaling also proved to be an inaccurate medium to balance the marking system. In one of its rulings, the Supreme Court has declared the scaling system as irrational and arbitrary.
Adding that no public service commission’s question paper is error free, the commission said the NPSC faces enormous problems such as delay in the declaration of the result on time, when large number of optional subjects are involved and many errors are detected. This problem normally takes place in the preliminary stage where large a number of MCQ questions is set as well as in the Mains examination with a huge number of optional subjects. The adoption of the MCQ pattern in the main examination, which has 31 optional subjects, only paves way for complaints and this becomes too demanding for the commission to function effectively, thereby delaying the section process, the NPSC said.
The commission mulls change in the pattern of examination and content on priority. These included switching over from the MCQ to descriptive types in the main examination. The importance the commission feels is that the candidate can be given room to express creatively and critically. Secondly, the content has to be enriched by providing a common syllabus. This is a ‘level playing field’ where a candidate is expected to know wide areas of studies to be a competent civil servant, the commission explained.
Chief Secretary Lalthara said arriving at a consensus is difficult. Optional papers should be done away with, he explained; because they lead to ‘outsourcing’ and tests have to be assessed while maintaining uniformity. The chief secretary also opined that setting questions has to be reasonable having mixture of questions in MCQ as MCQ provides more scope to ask more questions at lesser time. He said the candidate should have the ability in not only writing but also expression; speaking and pronunciation should also be accounted as plus-points, he said.
Additional Chief Secretary & Commissioner Banuo Z Jamir said NPSC should have specific books for candidates to refer to, as Nagaland does not have a research paper or syllabus undertaking by the university. A sort of analytical grammar is required, she said, and opined that inclusion of Grammar is needed for uniformity of the marking system.
Special Secretary to Governor CJ Ponraj also opined that examinations should be knowledge-oriented and based on managerial skills, incorporating real talent itself. Examinations should be purely on merit identifying the talents of the candidates, who can be instrumental in the service of the public and take challenges ‘without bias’ to the urban and rural areas, he said.
A member of the ENSF also said students are left out (Science and Commerce) and suggested emphasis on both streams. Grammar is very important not forgetting personality, aptitude and attitude test during interviews, he said.
Many members of the house suggested inclusion of science and commerce. However, the commission said that ‘enough space’ for professional subjects is given to the science candidates.
