Article Contents
Background
A leading Public Service Commission (PSC) in an Indian state is responsible for recruiting candidates for various civil service positions. Each year, this commission conducts large-scale competitive exams, with over 100,000 candidates appearing for major exams. The evaluation process includes multiple stages such as preliminary exams, main exams, and interviews.
Challenges Faced Before Eklavvya Implementation
Before adopting the Eklavvya Onscreen Marking (OSM) system, the PSC faced several challenges in managing the evaluation of such a large number of candidates:
- Logistical Issues: Coordinating the manual handling of answer sheets across multiple locations was cumbersome and error-prone.
- Security Concerns: Ensuring the integrity and security of physical answer sheets to prevent leaks or tampering was difficult.
- Manual Evaluation Delays: The manual process of evaluating answer sheets, calculating marks, and tracking assignments resulted in significant delays in announcing exam results.
- Lack of Advanced Technology: The absence of a digital evaluation system made it difficult to streamline the process and manage data effectively.
Implementation of Eklavvya Onscreen Marking System
To address these challenges, the PSC implemented the Eklavvya Onscreen Marking System. This system digitized the entire evaluation process by scanning physical answer sheets into a secure digital format.
These digital copies were then made available to examiners in a secure LAN-based environment, where student identities were masked to ensure impartiality.
The system also allowed for specific questions to be assigned to specific examiners, enabling multiple examiners to evaluate different sections of an answer sheet simultaneously.
Key Features of the Eklavvya Platform
- Secure Lab Setup: Eklavvya helped the PSC set up a scanning and evaluation lab in a secure LAN environment. This setup ensured that examiners could evaluate digital copies without handling physical answer sheets, enhancing both security and efficiency.
- Automated Mark Calculation: The platform automated the calculation of marks, reducing errors and speeding up the process.
- Role-Based Evaluation: Examiners, moderators, and scrutiny personnel were assigned specific roles to enhance fairness and oversight in the evaluation process. The platform also provided a facility to add date and timestamps during evaluation, adding transparency to the process.
- Eliminate manual answersheet checking.
- Check answersheets from any location.
- Automate result processing using technology.
Benefits and Outcomes
The implementation of the Eklavvya platform brought significant improvements to the PSC’s evaluation process:
- Streamlined Operations: The digitization of answer sheets and automated assignments to examiners streamlined the evaluation process, reducing evaluation time by 50%.
- Enhanced Security and Fairness: The secure LAN environment and masking of student identities ensured a fair and unbiased evaluation process.
- Improved Accuracy and Efficiency: Automated checks and validations, along with role-based oversight, improved the accuracy of the evaluations and minimized errors.
- Faster Results Processing: With over 52,000 answer sheets evaluated per exam cycle, the platform enabled faster processing and quicker announcement of results.
- Transparency and Accessibility: Students could access digital photocopies of their evaluated answer sheets online, enhancing transparency and reducing administrative workload.
Conclusion
The successful implementation of the Eklavvya Onscreen Marking System at the PSC has revolutionized its examination process by enhancing efficiency, security, and fairness.
The digital transformation has allowed the PSC to handle a large volume of evaluations effectively, ensuring timely and accurate results. Moving forward, the PSC plans to continue leveraging digital platforms like Eklavvya to further enhance its operations and uphold the integrity of its public service recruitment process.
This case study demonstrates how other organizations facing similar challenges can benefit from a secure, efficient, and transparent digital evaluation system like Eklavvya.
