E-Paper
Postpone implementation of MPSC new exam pattern: Maha govt to MPSC
The new MPSC “descriptive pattern” exam planned to be conducted in 2023 should be held in 2025, said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde
In an attempt to provide relief to civil services aspirants seeking postponement of implementation of the new examination pattern for the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC), the state government has appealed to the exam body to enforce it in 2025.
The new MPSC “descriptive pattern” exam planned to be conducted in 2023 should be held in 2025, said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday. Thousands of MPSC aspirants have held protests in Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik, Nagpur and other parts of the state over the last few months seeking the exam pattern breather.
On Tuesday, students held “sashtang dandavat” (lying prostrate on the ground and pay tribute) protest over the issue at Alka Talkies.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said after the cabinet meeting that he has told the MPSC that implementing the new pattern from the current year will be unjust to aspirants. “I have made a strong appeal to MPSC to delay the implementation till 2025,” Shinde tweeted.
“The decision will benefit lakhs of students who were preparing for the MPSC examinations based on the old pattern since last 2-3 years. The new pattern would have left us confused and anxious,” said Mangesh Jadhav, a student from Latur and preparing for the exam in Pune.
Another student Gayatri Margaje said, “I come from a rural area in Solapur district and have been preparing for civil services for three years. Generally, students like us give five years to crack the exam as staying in the city during preparations is costly. The decision will benefit us.”
Shinde’s letter to MPSC stated: “The state services main exam is an objective-based exam and the commission has decided to change this method and conduct the examination in the old method i.e. descriptive method. If the decision is implemented from 2023, there is a possibility of injustice to students who are preparing for the examination and, therefore, students have strongly demanded that the decision of the examination be postponed till the main examination of 2025 in descriptive manner.”
New pattern
In the new ‘descriptive exam pattern” there are nine papers instead of the present six in the subjective pattern. The exam will be of 1,750 marks than of the present pattern of 800 marks. Another major change is exclusion of 300 marks each of two language papers in the merit score which could impact scoring percentage of students. A candidate will have to score 25 per cent marks in each paper to qualify and all papers will be in a descriptive pattern with 250 marks each.
