PATNA: The largest-ever three-day BPSC teachers recruitment test commenced on a peaceful note on Thursday. The test is being held at 870 centres, including 38 in Patna, in the state. More than eight lakh candidates have applied for the appointment of above 1.70 lakh primary, secondary and higher secondary teachers.Nearly 80% candidates took the examination in the first shift and approximately 70% candidates turned up in the second shift on Thursday, said BPSCs deputy secretary Kundan Kumar. "The examinations in both the shifts (10am-12pm and 3.30pm-5.30pm) were held peacefully. No report of untoward incident was received from any centre in the state," he said.The examinations were held under tight security arrangements, with prohibitory orders in place and heavy patrolling by police and magistrates in all the 38 districts. Mobile jammers were installed at all the centres and CCTV cameras were installed at the gates and inside the examination halls. The authorities conducted biometric authentication and facial recognition of the candidates and OMR and QR code were scanned at the centres.The centre superintendents and observers of all the examination centres strictly followed the instructions given by the authorities for the smooth and fair conduct of examinations.The candidates were allowed to enter the exam centres up to one hour before the commencement of the examination in both the shifts. They were prohibited from carrying marker, whitener, blade and eraser with them. Furthermore, the candidates were also checked for mobile, bluetooth or electronic gazettes at the centre.Candidates also carried with them one additional copy of their admit card (hall ticket) which they submitted to the invigilator inside the examination hall. Sealed question packets were directly sent to the examination halls and the same were opened in front the examinees. Similarly, the used OMR sheets were packed and sealed after the end of examination in front of the candidates.After coming out of examination halls, candidates pointed out that the questions in general were of moderate nature. The questions covered topics from mathematics, reasoning and general knowledge, they said.As the BPSC had already announced that the provision of negative marking in the examination has been scrapped, most candidates attempted almost all the questions asked in the test. "The results of the test will be announced in two phases. First, the results of primary teachers would be announced followed by the results of secondary and higher secondary teachers latest by September 25," Kumar added. The tests for recruitment of primary teachers and the examination of compulsory papers of other categories of teachers are being held in two shifts on Thursday and Friday. The test for recruitment of secondary teachers (for classes IX and X) will be held in the first shift on Saturday and that for higher secondary teachers (for classes XI and XII) will be held in the second shift the same day."The tests for secondary and higher secondary teachers will be held only in four cities, namely, Patna, Muzaffarpur, Purnia and Bhagalpur, on Saturday. In the second shift on Saturday, there will be only women candidates taking the test," he said.

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