KOLKATA, Sept 6: The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) on Saturday said several unique security features have been added to the question papers for detecting any malpractices during the SLST examination slated to be held on September 7 and 14 where an estimated 5.65 lakh candidates will appear for the test.
The School Level Selection Test (SLST) for teachers to be conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), will be held on September 7 and 14 to fill up 35,726 teaching posts for classes 9-10 and 11-12.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s earlier directive to ensure not a single ‘tainted’ candidate is allowed to sit for the upcoming tests, the WBSSC announced a list of 1,806 ‘tainted’ teachers among the around 26,000 teaching and non-teaching candidates rendered jobless in the 2016 SLST tests.
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The apex court had termed the entire recruitment process of 2016 as ‘tainted and vitiated,” in its order in April.
WBSSC Chairman Siddhartha Majumdar at a press meet at WBSSC headquarters said, “Unique identification security features will be embedded with every question paper, which will be able to identify every candidate and in case of any malpractices that will be immediately detected through an alert at the monitoring room, where the candidate concerned will be identified and appropriate follow-up steps taken.”
He did not specify what the features would be for security considerations.
Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Friday had alleged that a racket was offering question papers to SLST candidates in exchange for money.
“I can’t comment on claims by political parties. What we can say with certainty is that all safety measures have been taken to prevent any illegalities as per the SC order, and we don’t apprehend any breach or violation of rules. Let the first phase exams be over, and you will see,” Majumdar said when asked about allegations by Adhikari.
To another question, about possibilities of admit cards being downloaded by tainted candidates, Majumdar said, “We had already taken necessary steps with regard to enforcing the SC order in totality, which includes these issues as well. Our website contains the SC order on the issue and how we are going about it.”
Asked about his comments that the candidates have been issued “provisional” admit cards, Majumdar said, “All admit cards are termed provisional in any exam”.
Majumdar said an estimated 3.19 lakh candidates will write their papers for assistant teacher posts for classes 9-10 at 636 centres on September 7. Another 2.46 lakh candidates will sit for tests for the recruitment of assistant teachers for classes 11-12 in 478 centres on September 14.
Altogether 5.65 lakhs will write papers during the two phase exams for filling up teachers’ vacancies in classes 9-10 and 11-12.
In view of heightened security measures, every candidate will have to turn up at the exam centre at 10 am, two hours before the exam starts.
Apart from pens, which will also be available at the exam centres, no other electronic devices or mobile phones will be allowed inside the exam centre. Venue supervisor and even SSC officials will not be allowed to carry their mobiles after a point, and can’t go inside the exam hall with phones. Everyone will have to deposit mobiles at the cloak room, he said.
There will also be a barcode scanner for Admit card at the entrance.
“While the last time before entering the exam centre will be 11:45 am, the tests will start at 12 noon. The question papers will reach the exam centre by 10:30 in a sealed envelope,” he said.
Adhikari on Friday alleged that question papers of the SLST examination was being sold by a racket in North 24 Parganas for as much as Rs 50,000.
Paschim Medinipur police issued a statement that one person, a resident of Chandrakona area, was arrested on Friday for spreading false information on social media about sale of question papers to prospective SLST candidates. (PTI)
