SSC Exams 2025: The Staff Selection Commission (SSC), which conducts major exams like the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) and Combined Higher Secondary Level (CHSL), recently faced significant challenges during one of its examination cycles. These included system failures, candidates being allotted distant centres, and other irregularities that eventually sparked protests involving students and teachers. In an interview with NDTV, SSC Chairman S. Gopalakrishnan elaborated on the reasons behind the problems and responded to the allegations surrounding one of the exam-conducting agencies - Eduquity.
During the conversation, he clarified that Eduquity was chosen through a transparent tender process under government oversight. He also explained Eduquity's role in preparing examination questions and discussed the steps being taken to prevent such irregularities from recurring in future exams.
Clarifying how Eduquity was brought on board, the chairman said the selection was made through a transparent process followed by all government departments.
He explained, "Eduquity is one of the companies we work with. The selection process was completely transparent. In the government, there are well-defined procedures for how tenders are issued and processed. Everything - from what's in the tender to who bid how much and who was selected - is available in the public domain. So, Eduquity was chosen through a transparent tender process."
He further added that the commission makes extensive use of technology to ensure fairness and prevent any form of malpractice.
"We use the maximum possible technology to detect and handle any kind of fraud. And it's not just Eduquity - I've mentioned other agencies as well. Our exam monitoring agency and IT support agency were also selected through similar tenders," he said.
According to him, the tendering process followed by the SSC is robust and has not been questioned by any of the participating firms. "We can confidently say that our tender process is firm, transparent, and undisputed. None of the participants who took part in the tender have ever raised an objection. Every meeting involves all stakeholders, and if there had been any mistakes or issues in the tender - during or after the process - someone would have pointed them out. But no one ever did. If anyone had raised a concern, it would have been officially recorded," he noted.
He stressed that the process is open to public scrutiny and leaves little room for speculation. "That's why I have nothing more to comment on the tender process - it's entirely open and accountable," he said.
Addressing concerns raised about integration issues after Eduquity's appointment, the chairman clarified that the firm was not responsible for question-related complaints. "One area where Eduquity's role has been somewhat misunderstood is regarding integration issues. Unlike earlier tenders or other bidders, this time there were certain integration challenges. For instance, after Eduquity came on board, there were complaints about wrong questions in one of the exams. But Eduquity had no role in that - they only display the questions; they don't create them. If they were the ones preparing the questions, we could hold them accountable. However, question-setting and display are done by different entities, and these systems have to be integrated. That integration process had some issues earlier, which led to some candidates being rescheduled for re-exams," he said.
Measures Taken To Fix Exam Irregularities
The chairman said that while certain issues such as wrong questions and technical glitches did occur in recent exams, the commission has taken corrective measures to prevent their recurrence.
"In the last Graduate Exam, around 14 lakh candidates appeared and a few faced system-related problems. We realized that these minor issues occurred mainly in older computers. To fix that, we've now deployed CDAC personnel to every exam centre to thoroughly check systems beforehand - ensuring they have enough RAM and are functioning properly. The officer verifies and reports any issues, such as systems having only 4GB RAM, and we freeze the setup after that verification. We've now made this a standard procedure," he explained.
The chairman added that the commission has learned from the past and is strengthening its infrastructure to support the growing scale of online examinations. "If we had implemented this earlier, say in July, these issues wouldn't have occurred. Previously, we didn't have such detailed checks because the older applications required less computing power. But now, since the new application is more advanced, we need stronger infrastructure. We audit, approve, and only then begin the exams," he added.
