AP Minister Lokesh challenges Jagan to debate Mega DSC in Assembly

Amaravati, Aug 17 (TNT): Andhra Pradesh HRD and IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Monday challenged YSRCP president and former Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to a debate in the Assembly over the Mega DSC 2025 recruitment, saying, “Fix the date and time. I am ready.”

Responding to allegations against the recruitment process, Lokesh said the Mega DSC 2025 was conducted transparently in accordance with Central norms, Supreme Court directions and prescribed vertical and horizontal reservation norms.

He said the government notified 16,347 teacher posts, with 3,36,300 candidates submitting 5,77,675 applications, and completed the recruitment process in 148 days, despite 336 court cases being filed.

Examinations were conducted through the secured TCS iON platform at 154 centres in Andhra Pradesh and 19 centres outside the state. A total of 89 test sessions covering 13 subjects and 67 types of posts were completed over 24 days.

Lokesh said a question bank containing 42,000 questions was prepared by SCERT subject experts under a confidential process, with questions and their sequence randomised for candidates.

He said security measures, including CCTV, physical security and cyber-security arrangements, were put in place at examination centres.

He said 15,941 teachers were given appointment orders at a programme held in the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. A dedicated grievance mechanism received around 33,840 grievances, of which only 36 reached the final appellate authority.

The Minister alleged that the previous YSRCP government conducted no DSC or teacher recruitment drive between 2019 and 2024, while around 12 lakh students shifted from government schools to private schools during the period.

He said TDP governments had recruited around 1.80 lakh teachers since the introduction of the DSC system in 1994, besides providing 33 per cent reservation for women in DSC and introducing a transparent counselling system for teacher transfers.

Lokesh said the coalition government had expanded the One Class-One Teacher system from around 3-4 per cent of schools when it assumed office to nearly 33 per cent, covering around 10,000 schools.

He also alleged that the previous government had deployed teachers outside liquor shops, while the present government was sending teachers to Singapore and Finland for training.

On allegations of a question paper leak, Lokesh said there was no role for outsourced employees in question paper preparation.

He said the question bank was prepared by SCERT subject experts and uploaded through a controlled mechanism before questions were randomly generated for candidates.

On transparency, he said candidates were provided SMS notifications and online access to their marks and merit status.

The government also released the initial answer key, invited objections, got them examined by subject experts and published the final key before scientific normalisation and publication of district-wise merit lists, he said.

Lokesh alleged that 141 cases were filed in 148 days by YSRCP leaders and others with the objective of stopping the DSC recruitment.

He said the government had analysed shortcomings in previous notifications using AI and prepared a model notification capable of withstanding legal scrutiny.

On the sports quota, Lokesh said the government had expanded the number of recognised sports disciplines from 29 to 65, in line with Central policy.

He rejected allegations of favouritism and said the 372 selected candidates comprised 46 OC, 185 BC, 112 SC and 29 ST candidates.

He said the government would conduct DSC every year and issue another notification this year for around 3,000 teacher posts. The government was also working to fill 10,060 posts through the Mega Job Calendar, including Group-I, Group-II and DSC vacancies.

With the recent completion of TET, the Minister said the government would ensure that newly recruited teachers were posted to schools before the next academic year.

Lokesh said the government’s focus was on merit, social justice and transparency and assured aspirants that recruitment would continue without compromising the integrity of the process.

He reiterated his challenge to the YSRCP chief, saying, “Come to the House. Fix the date and time. I am ready for the debate.”

TNT KM