2.5% clear first round of GPSC recruitment test

PANJIM: The performance of candidates in Sunday’s Computer Based Recruitment Test (CBRT) for various posts in Goa government departments has been another letdown for the State. The reason being that barely 2.5 per cent of the aspirants cleared the crucial first round of the examination conducted by Goa Public Service Commission (GPSC) on Sunday.

What has come as a major disappointment, is that vacancies advertised for Junior Scale Officers – for the third time in the last three years – saw just four candidates making it to the second round. 

The Commission on Sunday held the CBRT for around 1,400 candidates to answer the examination for various posts, including Junior Scale Officer of Goa Civil Service, Assistant Professor for Research Development and Innovation for State Higher Education Council, Assistant Professor for Teaching Learning and Educational Technology for State Higher Education Council, Medical Officer and College Director of Physical Education in Government College. 

Of the total, about 997 answered the test held across five centres and the spot results indicated that the trend of poor performance continues. Details available with Herald show that barely 25 students have cleared the CBRT, which brings the pass percentage to 2.5 per cent. 

More disappointingly, attempts to fill all 11 posts of Junior Scale Officers, originally advertised in 2017, continues till date. Data extracted since then reveals that of the 11 posts advertised in 2017, GPSC got just one eligible candidate to be inducted. The remaining 10 vacancies were re-advertised thereafter that had six candidates clearing the final round while the balance four vacancies (1 General and 3 OBC) were recently advertised to which around 1,200 applied. In continuation to this, GPSC accepted 1,178 applications of which 885 answered the 75-marks CBRT on Sunday. The Commission has got just four candidates clearing the test, who will answer the 250-marks written test followed by 40-marks oral interview of the pass-outs of second round. 

As the commission is not finding enough eligible candidates to make it to the other rounds of examination for the gazetted posts, GPSC has insisted that aspirants thoroughly prepare for the examination. 

Herald contacted GPSC chairman Jose Manuel Noronha, who expressed his disappointment stating, “The aspirants should thoroughly prepare for the exams. Since this was the third time, I expected candidates to perform better for this post because the pattern of the examination is the same.”

In what could be a slight relief, the ratio of shortlisted candidates for posts in other departments is better than those appearing for Junior Scale Officers.