Srinagar, Aug 25 (KNO): The cancellation of the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) Junior Engineer (Electrical) exam on Sunday triggered anger and despair, with aspirants calling it ‘a betrayal of their years of hard work’.
What unfolded inside the exam halls yesterday is now spilling into a larger political row, exposing the deep cracks in a system already scarred by repeated recruitment scandals.
At Srinagar’s Kothibagh exam centre, according to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), emotional scenes were witnessed as the aspirants broke down before cameras.
Muzamil, an engineering graduate from Sopore, recalled how he gave up cricket for two years to prepare.
“I wanted to support my parents. Today, I walked back home with humiliation. Our futures are being stolen,” he said.
Samar, a fresh graduate from NIT, described the handling of the exam as “absolute chaos.”
“We were given papers at 11 am, told to return them within 5–10 minutes, and later handed the same papers again. By then, questions were already circulating on WhatsApp. Where is the secrecy? Where is the fairness?” he said.
The JKSSB initially cited inclement weather for the disruption, but videos from several centres showed students scrolling through phones while filling OMR sheets. For many aspirants, it was not just mismanagement but a collapse of credibility.
“This is not an isolated incident. Scam after scam has turned JKSSB into a synonym for corruption and negligence,” said Nasir Khuehami, convenor of the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA), which has written to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, seeking removal of officers and a transparent probe.
Meanwhile, PDP leader Iltija Mufti accused the National Conference-led government of “wrecking the future of youth” through incompetence. “Instead of transparency, this government is turning recruitment into a den of corruption,” she said.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), she wrote: “Received hundreds of phone calls from distressed JE aspirants since yesterday. Our youth can’t dare to dream because the government itself is wilfully shattering their dreams with every successive scam and the inordinate delay to rationalise reservation. We demand relief for JE aspirants by scheduling their exam on a date that doesn’t clash with another competitive test. Instead of being apologetic and making amends, JKSSB is again throwing them into despair. Why are you criminalising education and merit?”
Defending the move, CM’s Advisor Nasir Aslam Wani said the cancellation was aimed at “maintaining transparency” and that fresh dates would be announced soon.
But the damage appears deeper than a single mishandled exam. Jammu and Kashmir’s unemployment rate stands at 6.7 percent—nearly double the national average of 3.5 percent.
The crisis is sharper among graduates and postgraduates: more than 31 percent of those registered as unemployed in early 2024 hold advanced degrees. A PhD in political science selling dry fruits in Shopian, or a doctorate in botany tutoring teenagers while planning to leave Kashmir, are not isolated stories but symptoms of a system that has consistently failed its most educated.
“It feels like our future is being stolen in daylight,” said an aspirant, voicing frustration over repeated exam failures—(KNO)