Since the modern society has grown increasingly complex, the choice of selecting a career has become very difficult for the educated youth.  And certainly, specialization has developed to such an extent that every major profession or career has caused a proliferation of professions. A discipline which the Greek placidly called “philosophy” has grown into a hydra (a mythical monster) with many heads.  Similarly, the monster of profession has grown to such a degree that it has innumerable heads. With a massive diversity of avenues for careers or professions, the confusion which faces a student attempting to decide a career is great indeed. Study and training for each career is such a prolonged and protracted affair that it is unworkable to change horses in mid stream.  A mentally deficient or uneducated boy has no dilemma to face in making the choice of a career but for the vast majority of educated youth, the predicament is real and often terrifying.  One can opt to be a doctor as one can become a lawyer. There are professions which promise security. An administrator or government official is confident of his future. He gets his promotions and increments with the passage of time and eventually retires with a secure pension. There are professions which are fraught with excitement and challenge. A journalist can rise to dizzy heights or fade into obscurity like untold numbers of writers. It is only the adventurous and confident who opt for such careers. Business is traditionally the most risky of all careers. It requires a person to stake all his hopes on the profession.

    A relatively recent phenomenon is the competitive examinations, on the basis of which people are selected for various professions like the Indian administrative services, (IAS), Kashmir Administrative Service, 9KAS), Professional Degrees like M.B.B.S, B.D.S. B.Tech, B.V.Sc, BUMS, B.Sc. Agriculture, Banking, government posts like clerks, assistants etc. The logic of such procedures may not be final test for the intelligence of a boy because a boy with 60% may be more intelligent than one with 75%. But it is a procedure necessitated by the large number of aspirants who desire to seek jobs.

     Each profession has its own disadvantages to the person who has not decided on his career. To a decisive person, these disadvantages fade into inconsequence beside the advantages. But for the most people, the decision of a career requires balancing various aspects and on the basis of this analysis choosing one. The factors may be the security, the monetary gains, the adventure or the satisfaction offered by each career. Ultimately, it is one's temperament and disposition which has a say in choosing one. Choosing a career is, undoubtedly, very difficult these days. However, the choice is to be made.

    The Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE) of our State is an institution which provides suitable opportunities to thousands of students every year to choose their career. It was established by an Act of the State Legislature (Act No. XXV of 2002). Under the Act the Board is entrusted with the task of conducting entrance tests and making selection of candidates for admission to various professional courses in the State of J&K. The common entrance tests are conducted by this Board every year for the purpose of determining eligibility/merit of students for admission to undergraduate Medical, Dental, Engineering and Agricultural Sciences in the Government- run and privately managed institutions in the State of J&K. The tests are conducted in accordance with the provisions of J & K Board of Professional Entrance Examinations act 2002, J&K reservation act 2004 and J&K reservation rules as amended from time to time, rules orders, notifications and directions issued/ to be issued by the J&K government from time to time concerning undergraduate professional education in medical, para medical, dental, agricultural and engineering courses and also regulating agencies, MCI, DCI, AICTE, CCIM, ICAR and as the case may be.  

     As the world today is getting more and more inter-connected due to globalization, progress and advancement of a nation depends on its ability to help students become competent by global standards. In this regard BOPEE not only has been striving hard to pull itself up on the global standards and making evolution by exploiting the latest use of technology but also has been restructuring itself by adapting transparent techniques. It is near fruition and is discarding traditional methods, systems and procedures and leap frogs through strategic and innovative changes to help the blossoming buds and our society to keep pace with the world development and develop international perspectives.

 The Board, this year 2010 also, conducted Common Entrance Test on 26th and 27th, June to provide an opportunity to the young aspirants a chance to choose their professional career or course. The forms were issued by the J&K Bank to circumvent the inconvenience of the candidates. Later on, the Chairman of the BOPEE issued a circular in which the candidates were asked to submit their forms according to the serial number of their forms on different dates in the office of the Board. This method was really a novelty because it eased the students and saved them from the hassles. They no longer had to wait in the long rows. The forms were scrutinized and it was again notified for the students to receive their roll number slips on different dates according to their form serial numbers. The Examination was conducted on 26th and 27th of June at different places of Srinagar. The intention of maintaining fairness and promoting transparency was clear when the students were allowed to take the carbon copy of their answer sheets which enabled the candidates to know their performance immediately after the end of each paper.  The other novel and fair method was that the key of every question paper of the entrance test was put on Internet immediately after the end of the examination. The candidates knew their result could assess their merit beforehand. This method certainly dispelled the doubts of any irregularity or infringement of rules and merit. The result was declared on 3rd of July and the meritorious students found themselves among the successful candidates. The list of selectees consisted of poor, rich, the Muslims, the Hindus, and the Sikhs, in fact all sections of the society.

 Right from the inception of this Board, transparency in the selection of Medical and Non- Medical courses has been established permanently and the candidates of all the sections of society are sure to get selected on pure merit. The credibility of this Board is increasing every year and it is doing a commendable work by providing thousands of students' chances of appointment in future. The other recruiting organizations of the State need to introspect and take a signal from this Board to maintain and promote transparency in the selection of appointments for different departments in the State Government. We need to encourage such organizations which have become institutions of honesty, justice and fair-dealing.   

(Dr. Farooq Peer is HoD, Department of English, Amar Singh College Srinagar. Feedback at farooq_peer@yahoo.com and drfarooqpeer@gmail.com)

Lastupdate on : Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST