SSC Exams Will Not Be Conducted Only In Hindi: Centre

The Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra stated to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the government has no plans to conduct the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exams only in Hindi. Further dismissing the proposal to make Hindi compulsory in all central government offices and institutions. 

Mishra states that the question does even not arise. The new education policy envisions the inclusion of regional languages in higher education institutes, encouraging the use of one’s mother tongue as a medium of instruction. It has also been suggested to offer programmes bilingually to improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) and promote Indian languages. Taking away this option from candidates appearing at the largest recruitment services for the central government would be a disservice to the vision of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the SSC involve preliminary examinations conducted by the two commissions. They comprise multiple-choice, objective-type questions in both Hindi and English. UPSC holds recruitment tests for the selection of candidates for services and posts divided into two groups, ‘A’ and ‘B’. The Rules of Examination and Recruitment Rules are framed and under the authority of the concerned Ministry or Department. This includes the language of the exam.

The Civil Services (Mains) examination, however, comes is conducted by UPSC. Here candidates have the option to take the examination in any regional language of their choice, with the exception of language and literature papers.

For SSC, Paper-I gives candidates the option to write their answers in either Hindi or English, while Paper-II, Multi-Tasking (non- technical) Staff Examination provides the option of all languages that are included in the eighth schedule of the Constitution.