TN govt to invite bids to develop software for online typewriting exams amid protest
Reiterating that the online typewriting and shorthand exam will affect more than 4,500 institutes across the State
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CHENNAI: Amid widespread protest by the management of typewriting institutes across the State, the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) is going ahead with the bid process to appoint an IT firm to develop software for an online exam merging typewriting and shorthand with the computer on office automation (COA).
The higher education department had already issued an order in which the rules and regulations for the certificate course in COA are modified by combining the typewriting examination and certificate course in COA as a single certificate course as a prerequisite qualification for getting appointment to the Tamil Nadu state and subordinate services.
“Accordingly, DoTE is likely to invite bidders to participate in the tender for the development of software and implementation to conduct the online examination for COA, typewriting, and shorthand,” a senior official from the higher education department said. Explaining the benefits of the proposed implementation of the software for the COA exam, the official said there would be one-time permanent registration for user ID creation, unlike the present manual enrollment.
“Similarly, exam registration, fee payment, application download, learning management system (video lecturers and e-books), and mock tests will be available for the candidates in the proposed software,” he added.
Stating that a mobile app to host shorthand dictations on the scheduled sessions will also be developed along with the online exam software, the official said, “Concerning the examination procedures and monitoring, the system will conduct biometric validation 30 minutes before the examination.”
He said the candidates must come on time for physical examination, however, this new online examination software will allow candidates who start late to attend the remaining sessions. He added the results will be published on time.
Reiterating that the online typewriting and shorthand exam will affect more than 4,500 institutes across the State, the Tamil Nadu Typewriting Computer Institutes Association (TNTCIA) president L Senthil claimed that there are no proper guidelines on how the candidates would learn typewriting or shorthand through the computer.
