The Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) is considering whether or not to re-conduct the recently completed Combined Technical Services Examination (Engineering services) 2023 due to questions being repeated on the exam. The Commission has admitted that some questions on the exam were repeated, and it is discussing with relevant authorities to decide whether the exam should be re-conducted or not. The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) and Combined Technical Association of Nagaland (CTAN) called for re-conducting the examination due to anomalies in the question paper.
According to Controller of Examinations, NPSC, Khrieo Rutsa, since the questions for the degree and diploma exams are set by different people, there are chances of repetition. As the questions were set by outside firms, the commission did not know what was in the question papers. The commission only knew about the discrepancies and errors in the question papers after the packages were opened inside the exam hall. The decision to re-conduct the examination will be taken by the Commission soon.
The commission will prepare key answers and open a window of grievances for candidates. Once complaints are received, decisions will be made accordingly. According to NPSC Secretary, Nungsangmenla Imchen, the commission does not cross-check the questions that come directly from the firms which are confidential. While admitting that some questions were copied from the civil engineering degree question papers, she said that there is no rule for questions not to be repeated. CTAN claimed that 50% of the questions were repeated, and urged the commission to be more responsible as the trend of copy-pasting from the previous year’s question paper is growing.
Meshenlo Kath, the convenor of CTAN, stated that almost 50% of the questions were copy-pasted or repeated, and as a result, the commission should re-conduct the exam. In 2021, a similar incident happened for a Computer Applications and Computer Science exam where 90% of the questions were repeated, resulting in the re-conduct of the examination. He doubts the quality of questions being prepared by firms from outside the state.
