SSC Chairman Admits Technical Glitches but Rules Out Exam Cancellation Amid Protests

Facing intense backlash and protests from thousands of aspirants, Staff Selection Commission (SSC) Chairman S Gopalakrishnan has acknowledged significant mismanagement and technical lapses in the recently conducted SSC Selection Post Phase 13 examination, but firmly stated that the exam will not be cancelled.

Despite mounting pressure to scrap the test and replace the exam vendor, the Chairman announced that a re-exam may be conducted only for candidates who were genuinely disadvantaged due to disruptions such as system failures, malfunctioning equipment, and flawed centre allocations.

“If even one candidate has been wronged, we will conduct the exam again for them,” Gopalakrishnan told NDTV.

Major disruptions reported at Pawan Ganga (Delhi) and Educasa (UP) exam centres

Technical Failures and Poor Infrastructure

The examination, held from July 24 to August 1, was plagued by technical failures at multiple centres. At least 20 centres reported disruptions, and in two locations—Pawan Ganga (Delhi) and Educasa (Uttar Pradesh)—entire shifts were cancelled, impacting around 2,500 candidates. The exam had to be extended by a day to August 2 in three additional shifts.

Attendance was also affected, with only 8,048 out of 16,600 candidates appearing at rescheduled centres—an attendance rate of barely 60%.

Gopalakrishnan attributed the issues to “teething problems” with Eduquity Career Technologies, the vendor responsible for conducting the exam. He confirmed that the SSC has written to the company demanding accountability, and hinted at penalties for failures involving system crashes and biometric errors.

No Change in Vendor — Yet

Calls from aspirants to terminate the vendor’s contract were rejected by the Chairman, citing logistical constraints.

“I cannot remove them based on one exam. Floating a new tender would take until December. How will we conduct exams in the meantime?” he asked.

However, he assured that the commission is closely monitoring Eduquity’s performance, and added that there had been noticeable improvement in operations after the initial few days of the exam cycle.

AI Concerns and Future Readiness

Clarifying concerns around AI usage in question paper generation, the SSC stated that only basic AI tools were used to avoid repetition, with questions tagged using metadata. No high-level AI decision-making was involved.

To ensure greater transparency and integrity, the SSC is working with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) to monitor exams through a digital surveillance system, including desktop-level tracking, CCTV review, and log analysis.

Assurance for Upcoming Exams

As the protests continue, SSC has promised corrective measures ahead of the next round of exams scheduled from August 6 to 8, which will involve approximately 3.5 lakh candidates. The Commission expressed confidence that these upcoming exams will run smoothly.

Gopalakrishnan concluded that while there were undeniable lapses, the exam was not "entirely unfair" to justify cancellation. He pledged that all irregularities would be addressed within a month, and any candidate who did not receive a fair opportunity would be given another chance.