The tale of a cancelled exam: Junior clerk aspirants and their exam day miseries

A polio survivor, he has been trying hard to secure a government job. On January 29, he left his home in the Umbri village of Gir Somnath district’s Sutrapada taluka at 5.30 am to reach his exam centre in Junagadh city. After riding pillion on his uncle’s motorbike to reach Ghantiya village seven kilometres away, he caught a private taxi paying a fare of Rs 125 for Junagadh.

“When I reached Junagadh bypass, around 100 km away from my home, I got the news that the paper had leaked and the exam had been postponed. The news left me wondering as to whom to trust. I have taken at least a dozen recruitment examinations and almost half of them were cancelled following paper leaks. In such a scenario, save God, no one else seems to be trustworthy,” says Dodiya, who holds a post-graduate degree in Hindi literature and has a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree.

Dodiya says he went to the bus depot of the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) in Junagadh to catch a return bus. “But there was a huge crowd of candidates. I could barely board a bus to Veraval after about four hours and was standing throughout the journey,” he adds.

Dodiya’s father owns 1.5 bigha land and the family earns their livelihood by running a nursery of coconut seedlings. His elder brother is a lecturer at a government college. “I am physically handicapped and hence, not many are willing to give me a job. Therefore, securing a government job seems to be the only way out for me and have been trying for the past one decade but to no avail,” he told The Indian Express.

Sangita Thakor, 19

A resident of Piplana village in Harij tehsil of Patan district, Thakor is in her final year of graduation at the Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University and aspires to be a police sub-inspector but wants a government job as soon as possible. So far, she has appeared for two government recruitment examinations. The junior clerk exam was the third.

“It is disappointing that the paper was leaked. I think the government is responsible for such mishaps. What can one do if such things keep happening? It discourages us from preparing for the government examinations. We lost confidence in the government,” Thakor said.

She said months-long preparations go in vain during such incidents. “People like us from rural areas have to reach the place of the exam the night before to avoid any last-minute hassle. My examination centre was at Gola village near Ambaji in Banaskantha. It is far from my village. Hence, I had reached one of my uncles’ home in Banaskantha that is closer to the examination centre, a day in advance. I got the news of the paper leak around 6 am,” she says.

However, she decided to go to the exam centre. “What if it was fake news? So, I started to reach the examination centre. But by the time I reached Palanpur, it was clear that the paper was leaked and the exam was postponed. I got a bus back to my uncle’s home after waiting for two hours since there were too many candidates. I did not get a seat and had to stand all the way,” said Thakor.

Dipak Patel ,21

Patel works as an accountant on contract at a government hospital in Ahmedabad. He lives in the Meghaninagar area of Ahmedabad city and was fortunate to get the exam centre in the city itself.

However, he says the news of the paper leak shattered his hope to crack the examination and get a government job. “In contract-based jobs or in the private sector, there is a lot of exploitation without job security. Hence, I am working hard to crack an exam to secure a government job,” he says.

On January 29, he was preparing to leave for the examination centre in the Bapunagar area when he came to know about the paper leak. “It left me disappointed. I had prepared well and was confident of clearing the exam. I have been preparing for government recruitment examinations for the past 3-4 years and have, so far, appeared in around 10 of them,” the Commerce graduate, currently pursuing his Bachelors in Law, says.

Virag, 25

Virag reached Jamnagar after an overnight journey on a GSRTC bus via Rajkot for the exam. He deboarded the bus in Jamnagar to the news of the exam cancellation. “I am running out of time, both for getting settled in life and career. I missed the cut-off in a few other recruitment exams by five to six marks. I thought I would be able to make it this time and to prepare well, I quit my part-time job as an office clerk six months ago. But repeated paper leaks has left me wondering as to what is going to happen in the future,” the candidate, who holds a degree in computer application and is the only son of a retired sales tax officer, says.

Virag said his other friends who also had travelled to Jamnagar for the examination gave him a lift for the return journey.

Suresh Kukadiya, 35

A resident of the Barvala village in Rajkot district’s Jasdan taluka, Kukadia has been trying to get a government job since 2008.

He has taken more than a dozen recruitment examinations. “But half of them got cancelled due to paper leaks. If a paper is leaked once, it is understandable that some unscrupulous elements could have gained access. But such repeated incidents raise questions about the integrity of the system,” he says.

He had gone to Kutiyana in Porbandar for the written test of police recruitment a couple of years ago only to find out that it had been cancelled.

Kukadiya, who is married, earns his living from cultivation on 10 bigha land and practising law. He also holds a primary teacher’s certificate.

“A few years ago, I was allotted Amreli as the examination centre for the Teacher Eligibility Test but was highly disappointed to see the level of malpractices,” he adds.

Kukadiya had reached Jasdan on his bike and was waiting for a bus to Rajkot when he got the news of the cancellation of the exam.