Several students preparing for Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) examinations are demanding that the new descriptive pattern of question papers be implemented from 2025 instead of this year. In this regard, a section of MPSC aspirants staged a protest on Friday, January 13. Similar protests were also held in Kolhapur, Nagpur and Aurangabad, as stated in a report by PTI.
Listing their demands, a protesting student said, "Our demand is that the descriptive pattern be implemented from 2025 instead of 2023 because students will need some time to prepare for the new syllabus." To recall, it was in June 2022 the MPSC announced that it would switch to descriptive pattern examinations from the current objective type.
And in July 2022, the MPSC claimed that some `self-proclaimed' student organisations and coaching institutes were driving a campaign to pressurise the commission to implement the new syllabus from 2025 instead of 2023. It would not yield to such pressure and the 'Pre' and 'Main' exams in 2023 will be conducted as per the new pattern and syllabus, it had asserted.
When asked about the protests, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the new pattern was recommended by the Dalvi Committee formed by the previous government. He said to reporters, "Somewhere down the line we have to implement the syllabus on the lines of the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission). Today these students are asking us to implement it from 2025, but in 2025, somebody would demand that it be deferred to 2027. We cannot do this. We have to ensure quality."
