Students Reject UP Board’s Latest Exam Decision As Prayagraj Protests Intensify

The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission has decided to conduct an examination that could prove crucial to the recruitment process in just one shift. This decision has not placated protesting students who call for much more significant change in this scenario.

The commission’s statements and actions have kick-started a heated debate, and protesting students claim they would step up their protests until their demands are absolutely met.

Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission Latest Step

On protest day, the commission declared that it will conduct Provincial Civil Service preliminary exams in single shift where as earlier they had planned to conduct the exams in two days. The new step from the side of the commission didn’t meet much-needed Review Officers and Assistant Review Officers exams for which students were unsatisfied.

Initially, the protesting students were opposing the decision taken by the commission to hold an examination in multiple shifts over several days. They also cited this arrangement as increasing the possibility of paper leaks and to compromise the integrist nature of the exams. The spokesperson of the commission had earlier said that the decision to split the exams was on the benefit of the applicant and the sanctity of the examination process also.

In addition, the commission says they will have exams only in centers which never had irregularity issues before and excluded government educational institutions that were more than 10 km away from the nearest bus stand or railway station. Further, they ensured normalization of results across different shifts and said that this was a routine process followed everywhere in the country and made obligatory by many judgments handed down by courts.

Students Unsatisfied And Continue Agitation

The students did not like this decision and continued protesting, but the chaotic scenes outside the UPPSC office in Prayagraj could have been avoided. The protesters termed this move as a result of an attempt on the part of the government to break the momentum of their agitation.

“We are not going anywhere unless the RO/ARO exams are also conducted in a single shift,” said one of the protestor. “The government is misleading us through their oral declaration, but we are waiting for an official notification.” Many students were sarcastic about the inability of the government to fulfill their both demands. They were complaining that although the demand one had partially being met while the other one was pending.

In fact, some protesters compared the government’s response to what they described as the political rhetoric of their administration, questioning how a large number of students cannot be organized for an examination on one particular day. “How can they talk about ‘one nation, one election’ and yet fail to organize an exam for 10 lakh students in a single day?” one student said. One more added that the government was playing a ‘divide and rule’ game by trying to bifurcate the issues of PCS and RO/ARO for weakening protest movement.

The protests come at a time when the state government is under stress with the bypolls in nine constituencies in Uttar Pradesh slated for November 20. Opposing parties, including the Samajwadi Party and Congress, have fastened onto the issue, accusing the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath government of callous insensitivity to the aspirations of students.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called for the government to listen to the fair demands of the students, keeping in mind the political implications of the protests. “The government should respect the students’ concerns, not only due to humanity but due to political considerations also,” Yadav said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was equally harsh in the remarks he made against the government’s approach to handling the matter, adding that the students should not be punished because of failure on the part of what he called BJP government. “Why should the students suffer for the government’s failures?” he asked and urged the authorities to quickly solve the problem.

Government Call For Resolution

This is the reason why the state government, under Yogi Adityanath, has been advised to calm down the issue. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya sought an amicable solution of this very issue and asked officials to listen to the grievances of students and settle it in such a manner that the students may feel relaxed and be able to focus on their studies and not on protests.

According to the leader, “as a government, we have to be sensitive towards the concerns of the students. They should not waste their time in protests but instead study for the exams.”

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