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Rajasthan cancels REET-2 exam over paper leak, changes paper format for 2022: Ashok Gehlot
Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, who is accused of involvement in the REET-2 exam paper leak by the BJP, said he will quit politics if the accusations are proven against him.
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government has decided to scrap the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers-2021 (REET) Level 2 examination conducted in September last year, chief minister Ashok Gehlot said on Monday, his counter to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign against his government and Congress leaders over the paper leak.
“We have decided to cancel the REET Level 2 examination,” Gehlot told a news conference on Monday after the meeting of the state cabinet, attributing the decision to the apprehension of large-scale irregularities created in the mind of people by the opposition BJP.
REET level-2 exam is conducted to recruit teachers for classes 6 to 8. Last year, over 16 lakh people applied for 32,000 posts of middle school teachers. Gehlot said the government has also decided to increase the posts for which the examination will be conducted afresh later this year for 62,000 posts.
The chief minister also announced that the government will introduce a qualifying set of papers for the next round; only aspirants who clear this round can appear for the second round.
Gehlot said the state police’s special operations group (SOG), which probed the paper leak, estimated that only 300-350 people may have benefited due to the paper leak but the opposition campaign necessitated the cancellation.
“We are not happy with the decision to cancel the exam as the future of lakhs of youth is associated with it. But, we had to take this decision due to gimmicks of the BJP to tarnish the image of the government,” he said.
The decision comes days after the government sacked the chairman of the state’s secondary education board chairman DP Jaroli, and suspended the board secretary Arvind Kumar for irregularities in conducting the examination. SOG has arrested 38 people including 14 candidates and seized ₹1.16 crore.
The BJP, which was demanding that the government cancel the examination, also has been alleging the involvement of Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra in the paper leak.
Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara has rebutted the charge, challenging the opposition to prove the involvement of anyone from his family.
“I will quit politics if allegations against me of any connection to the REET paper leak are proven,” he said, stressing that 13 of his relatives appeared for the examination but did not clear it.
Gehlot said the BJP was misleading the people because it couldn’t fault the government on facts. “The state government has done good work in last three years, due to which the opposition is frustrated. There is no anti-incumbency and people are appreciating the work by the government. The BJP wants a media trial on every issue,” he said.
Ashok Gehlot also promised to enact a strict law to stop paper leaks and ensure that exams are conducted in a fair and transparent manner.
The chief minister said this is not the first instance of a paper leak and such incidents have been reported from other states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra in the last few years.
