Policemen deployed at the Telangana State Public Service Commission building in Hyderabad. , photo credit: G Ramakrishna

The huge question bank prepared by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) over months of efforts using the services of subject experts will now go to the recycle bin for permanent deletion in the wake of multiple exam question paper leaks.

TSPSC has decided to prepare a new pool of questions, which is a herculean task. The Commission does not want to take any risk by using unused material from the already prepared pool despite the availability of unused questions and being untouched by the accused in case of question paper leak in raw format.

Sources said the Commission officials will soon hit the delete button from their system and have alerted various subject experts to the task of preparing new questions for the exams that have already been canceled or not yet conducted. “It is a huge exercise and time-consuming process but there is no other option,” said an official. “It will take months for us to get into final shape.”

Preparing the question paper is not an easy task considering the complex nature of the exam, subjects and the secrecy involved. The general practice is that a few questions are asked to honest people and a bank of such questions is prepared which is finally used to prepare the examination paper. The anonymity of the question makers is maintained in such a way that no one knows who has prepared the questions and for which exam they will be used and used at the end. Some moderation is also done at the top level to change the nature of the questions.

A senior official revealed that there is no guarantee that all the questions sent by paper setters will be used and the percentage of questions from any individual used for the final paper is less than 10.

The commission, which has already canceled four exams, has postponed two more exams without conducting them. The Group-1 Preliminary, AEE, DAO and AE exams held last October have been postponed while two more exams – Town Planning Building Overseer which was to be held on March 12 and Veterinary Assistant Surgeon exam which were to be held on March 15 and 16 has been postponed. The dates for nine more exams were announced earlier and the papers for all these exams will now have to be prepared afresh.

Given the complexities involved, the entire recruitment exam schedule may get jumbled, and the final picture of the exam calendar may take a few months to be announced as the process involves consultation with experts, preparation of new question papers, selection of questions and approval at various levels apart from arranging for the conduct of examinations.