Stenographers say exam flawed

Candidates who sat the recently held competitive examination to select stenographers as personal assistants to Sri Lankan missions abroad wrote to the Examination Chief and the Foreign Ministry asking for the exam to be re-held as one segment was not conducted properly.

The problem arose when a pre recorded cassette was played over the public address system to allow candidates to take down in shorthand and transcribe it within an hour.But as the reader’s pronunciation was not clear most of the candidates were unable to take down the passage properly.

Even though the candidates had protested to the supervising officers about being unable to comprehend the passage being read out, they were told nothing could be done.

The candidates want officials at the Examinations Department and Foreign Affairs Ministry to listen to the recording and access for themselves about the clarity of the recording prior to the release of the results.

An Examination Department official when contacted about the matter said he was unaware of this problem and as far as he was aware the exam was conducted properly and the results would be duly released.