The authorities may consider ensuring the security of candidates by splitting examinations centres
PANJGUR: The Balochistan Public Service Commission (BPSC) has announced the dates for conducting the Provincial Competitive Services Examination from mid-November to mid-December 2016, in Quetta, for the appointment of assistant commissioners and section officers. Surprisingly, the Commission has decided to conduct the examination at only one venue — Ayub Stadium, Quetta — on single dates, accommodating about 7,000 candidates.
The recent terrorist incident in Quetta depicts its vulnerability and the potential security threat to any soft target gathering in huge numbers at one place. If the selection of only one venue for the examination on the same dates is due to the scarcity of financial and human resources, then the authorities concerned must learn from private testing organisations that administer examinations for lower scale vacancies of government departments throughout 32 districts of Balochistan on a single date. Secondly, the dates announced by the BPSC are in conflict with the dates of the Balochistan MA/MSc examinations.
Accordingly, the authorities may consider ensuring the security of candidates by splitting examinations centres at invulnerable venues to avert any untoward incident and reconsider the exam schedule to avoid conflicts with other examinations.
Javed Sarwar
Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2016.
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