GUWAHATI: The Assam government as prohibited mobile internet services from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM on Sunday, October 27 to conduct the last phase of the Assam Direct Recruitment Examination (ADRE) in a transparent manner.
ALSO READ: 11 Years of GPlus – A Journey Through Change
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma himself took to address the decision, stating that the prohibition warrants that the exam is ‘free, fair and transparent’ and devoid of any malpractice.
Written examinations by the Assam State School Education Board (ASSEB) for Grade 4 posts will be conducted in two shifts in 28 districts on Sunday. Altogether 8,27,130 candidates have applied to appear in the recruitment examination to be conducted for HSLC level posts in the first shift from 9 am to 11. 30 am at 1,484 centres. A total of 5,52,002 candidates have applied to appear in the examination to be conducted for Class VIII level posts in the second shift from 1.30 pm to 4 pm at 808 centres.
This is not the first time the government has decided to implement this strategy; it was adopted back in 2022, when the first ADRE exam was held across the state. On August 21, 2022, and August 28, 2022, mobile internet services were suspended for over four hours in all the districts where the written tests were held.
Fast forward to 2024, and the prohibition of mobile internet during the exam’s hours was put in place twice, in September for similar exams. Such is the supposed ingenuity of this suspension-model that Jharkhand adopted the same solution for the Jharkhand General Graduate Level Combined Competitive Examination (JGGLCCE), which was held back in September.
However, with the recent news of restrictions being imposed again to uphold the integrity of the ADRE exam on Sunday, public opinion has somewhat been divided.
While the government stands firmly in its position, advocating the need for such a shutdown to ensure that no illegal practices take place during the examination hours, it may be noted that other sectors objectively suffer from the decision taken by the state.
“These things are done for a simple ADRE recruitment,” a social media user shared his opinion. “These all are not done even in UPSC exams.”
“Doesn’t feel like we are living in 2024,” shared another user.
This frustration does not just relate to the non-candidates; it has hampered even the procedural activities of the appearing candidates on the day of the exam. “Since mobile internet is down, we cannot call for transportation services to reach our exam venues on time,” one of the candidates shared. “So we have to plan for the journey much ahead of time, which makes the entire process inconvenient for us.”
In light of the pervading challenges, commercial services also suffer without the availability of digital payments, while transportation services go haywire; either the fares to travel from one place to another skyrocket, or there is simply an unavailability of the service in critical situations.
The Jharkand High Court was quick to act on the matter, ordering the state to restore internet services, and to not conduct any sort of examination in this manner without seeking its prior permission. It stated that such a decision taken without approval is a clear violation of fundamental human rights.
The situation continues to upset people in Assam at the moment, though. It is all very fine to ensure that there is no manner of malicious practices during the ADRE exam, but to address the concerns of the public in view of such measures need to be taken into consideration as well.
