Cancellation of Teachers Recruitment Board exam a bolt from blue for successful candidates

TRICHY: The state government’s decision to cancel the examination conducted by Teachers Recruitment Board for the appointment of lecturers to government polytechnic colleges has pushed many candidates who successfully cleared the exam to a crisis.

“We are not afraid of writing the re-exam but what is the guarantee that there will be no irregularities next time and how long will the government keep cancelling the exam after irregularities surface,” asked a candidate. Indeed, the cancellation has been challenged in court as most successful candidates feel it was arbitrary. The TRB had called the candidates for certificate verification on November 23 last year but announced its cancellation on November 21. Subsequently, the examination was also cancelled on February 9 after irregularities were found during the selection process.

“When the TRB claims that OMR sheets have not been tampered with and irregularity was found only in data entry while entering marks, what is the need for re-exam,” asks one among the successful candidate, C S Prabakar. There were 220 candidates whose marks in the mark list were found to be more than those on their OMR sheets, clearly indicating irregularity. Though the government is aware of this fact, it is alleged that there are no attempts to fast-track the investigation. “No doubt that people from TRB and even state ministers could be involved in the scam which is preventing them from taking action against the guilty,” says Prabakar.

“We are not opposing an inquiry but instead of identifying the guilty, the whole exam has been cancelled and all our efforts washed down the drain,” says M Thanigainathan. He said that coaching institutes would be the most to benefit from such a decision and they had already started advertising. For many candidates like M Thanigainathan who has secured the seventh rank by scoring 145/190 in the exam and was assured of a job, preparing once again may not be possible. He has invested two long years preparing for the exam without going for a job or helping his father at his farm in Tiruppur.

Pointing out that preparing for the TRB exam demanded rigorous preparation which was no less than Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), Thanigainathan said, “The circumstances of many of us may not permit us to prepare for the exam for another year without earning for our family.”

“Many who had resigned their present jobs anticipating certificate verification and a job after that stand nowhere now after the events unfolded,” said a woman candidate from Madurai. “Hence we request the government to ensure a transparent inquiry and make appointments with the list of candidates whose marks have been found to be same as those on their OMR sheet,” she said.