SHILLONG, OCT 8: The state BJP has demanded the state government to consider allowing final-year students of graduation courses to appear for the preliminary stage of the Meghalaya Civil Services (MCS) and Meghalaya Police Service (MPS) competitive examinations.
In a letter submitted to the chief minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday, BJP state president Rikman G Momin said, “Therefore, the State Government in the personnel Dept. and the Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC) may be requested to change one of the conditions of eligibility relating to educational qualification to allow final year students of any degree course to apply and sit for preliminary stage of MCS Examination/ MPS Examination with the condition that such candidates must produce evidence of having obtained graduate degree before submission application and documents for the main examination.”
“This will open the door for wider selection of suitable candidates besides opening the door of opportunity for the final year students as is being done by the Government of India/Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi,” he added.
Currently, the MPSC requires candidates to have a completed graduation degree to be eligible for the MCS/MPS examination, Momin said adding this rule bars final-year students from appearing even in the preliminary stage, unlike the UPSC, which allows candidates to appear for the preliminary stage and submit their degree certificates before the main examination.
Momin argues that this restriction deprives deserving candidates of an opportunity to appear for the examination and that the state’s practice of conducting exams at long intervals further exacerbates the issue.