NO COUNTRY FOR ENGLISH – Questions only in vernacular, leave aspirants flummoxed

The recently concluded West Bengal police recruitment exam, came as a shocker to many. The questions were all set only in Bengali and Nepali. There was no questions in English.

As  one of our readers pointed out, “Hello DC, I just want to inform you to that being competitive aspirant, West Bengal police dept conducted written examination on 24th June 2018, the question papers were set only in Nepali and Bengali and there were no questions in English. So how is it possible that no questions in English were set? what could be the reason for conducting examinations only in vernacular? Being a competitive exam aspirant, I have never seen this before. English is compulsory in every Govt institutions, but the government itself has set questions only in Nepali and Bengali.”

WB Police recruitment questions

While those whose mother tongue are Nepali and Bengali may have benefited from such a question paper, communities who do not speak or write these languages stand disadvantaged. Adivasis and Rajbonshis, Mech and Rabhas who have their own mother tongue are thus deprived and discriminated. More importantly, even in our hills all the schools teach in English Medium, so understanding a technical mathematics problem in Nepali may have been difficult for many.

While we applaud the attempt at promoting vernacular languages, we do hope that no one is discriminated against from applying for government jobs, on the basis of language.

WB Police recruitment questions