Explained: The row over the delay in Railways and SSC exam results

While the results of SSC CGL exam are yet to be declared, the RRB NTPC test has not been conducted although registrations began in March 2019.
Students writing an exam amid the coronavirus pandemic
Students writing an exam amid the coronavirus pandemic
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Edutech firm Unacademy has found itself in the centre of a row after one of its educators, Varun Awasthi, criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video and said that the youth of the country would "pick up AK-47s instead of pens." The comment was made in the context of Varun backing students who have written exams conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exams but are yet to receive their results.

The students began a social media campaign with the hashtag #SpeakUpForSSCRailwayStudents, to highlight their issue. Varun too, used the same hashtag while uploading the video. 

The video, which was widely shared, was uploaded on Varun's personal profile on social media, but he was wearing an Unacademy t-shirt. Many had taken offence over the video and sought strict action against Varun.

In a statement, the Unacademy said that the company "does not endorse or support any content or communication from educators that instigates hateful or unlawful behaviour." The organisation also said that the original video has been deleted and a public apology has been issued. "We have taken appropriate action against the educator, in compliance with our internal Code of Conduct guidelines," it added.

What is the SSC results row

The Common Graduation Level (CGL) exam, conducted by SSC, is a recruitment exam for lower-category government jobs. The government job aspirants say that they had appeared for the CGL exam in 2018-19. The exams, the last one which was held in December 2019, were written to fill 11,000 vacancies in Group C and Group D postings by the SSC. A total of 50,000 students wrote the exams to fill up 11,271 vacancies, most of them for lower-category government jobs, according to reports.

However, due to the pandemic, their results are yet to be announced. Students say that this is unfair to them as many of them are awaiting the results to decide on their future plans. Many are also awaiting the recruitment notification, which can happen only after the results are declared.

Meanwhile, many candidates also complained about the delay in issuing admit cards for the Railway Recruitment Board’s Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRB NTPC) recruitment test. Although it has been over a year since registrations began in March 2019, the exam has not been conducted yet. The test is conducted to hire lower-level and non-technical jobs like guards and assistants for the Indian Railways. 

The students decided to undertake the campaign as the Centre is going ahead with its plans of conducting the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE- Main) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). They said that if the government can conduct these examinations during a pandemic, the results can also be announced.

Many politicians also took to Twitter to back the students.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also raised the issue. "The SSC and Railways have withheld the results of many examinations for years. Someone's result is stuck, while someone else's exams are delayed," she said.

"Till when will the government test the patience of youth, for how long? The government should listen to the youth. The youth need jobs, not speeches," she said in a tweet in Hindi, calling for the announcement of the CGL exam results held by the Staff Selection Commission.

With the hashtag trending on social media and growing demands to release the CGL exam results soon, the government has said that it will announce the results by October 4. However, students have said that they also want the results of other exams that are pending, at the earliest.

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