The Assam Government must be complemented for the way it has successfully conducted three rounds of the direct recruitment examinations for recruitment of Grade III staff spread over a fortnight, thereby managing its sanctity. The enormity of the challenges that it faced can be gauged from the fact that over 11 lakh candidates appeared in more than 2,300 centres across the length and breadth of the State on September 15 in the first phase while over seven lakhs appeared in the second phase on September 29. Deployment of 56,000-plus invigilators and manpower in place, getting the question papers transported to each of these centres, and then the task of collecting the answer sheets have gone without any major hiccups. Over 27,000 police personnel were also deployed in the exercise.
This was unprecedented in the history of the Board of Secondary Education Assam, which was entrusted by the Government to conduct these examinations. There were news reports of some discrepancies at a few centres, which, however, proved to be unfounded. The police have done its bit with those who wanted to bring disrepute to the process.
The other major criticism that the Government faced was clamping down on mobile internet services in the State during the time of these examinations. This was a desperate measure for a Government based on experience across the country. The clampdown should be perceived by the people of the State as moxa cautery, minor pains needed to avoid major ones.
