The Public Service Commission (PSC) has announced that coronavirus infected persons will not be allowed to participate in the public service (loksewa) examination.

Issuing the ‘criteria for conducting and managing the examination’, the commission has stated that people infected with COVID-19 and those living in isolation will not be allowed to take the examination.

The commission is preparing to conduct the exam after the government requested to publish a new advertisement for the same and conduct the halted examination.

The commission has also set an age limit of 35 for men and 40 for women to take the examination.

Advertisements and examinations for public service posts, which have been suspended since mid-April, are starting this month.

In mid-October, the advertisement for the posts of joint secretary and deputy secretary, branch officer of administration in mid-November and branch officer of technical side in mid-December will be published.

The commission has made it clear that the examination will be conducted in compliance with the health security criteria. For that, only 100 candidates will be placed in one examination center each. There will be 25 examinees in one hall with only one person sitting on a single bench.

It is also mentioned in the criteria that the examinees and the officials working in the examination center must wear masks, use sanitizer and maintain physical distance.

The Chairman of PSC, Umesh Mainali, said that preparations had been made to conduct the examination by adopting safety health measures.

Senior advocate Hari Upreti, on the other hand, said that it was not good for the youth to be deprived of public service examination just because they had fallen victim to COVID-19 infection.

“Many young people will be deprived of opportunities if the commission conducts the exam in such a situation,” said Upreti.