The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services (preliminary) examination, 2020 held in the Lucknow on Sunday, 4 October, recorded less than 50 percent attendance for the exam amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to data released by district magistrate Abhishek Prakash’s office, a total of 43,921 candidates were registered for the exam in both shifts respectively. In the morning shift, only 21,790 (49.61%) candidates appeared the exam. In the second shift, 21,607 (49.19%) candidates wrote the exam and 22,314 skipped it.
This was a sharp drop as compared to 15-20 percent average dropout seen in previous years.
The majority of the students, who had dropped out of the examination, cited COVID-19 pandemic as the main reason.
The candidates said that apart from the fear of catching an infection, many of them could not prepare for the test because of restrictions on coaching classes, group studies, library sessions and mentorship programmes in the past six months.
"Besides lack of preparedness, there was a risk of catching COVID-19 infection, which made many of my batchmates skip the examination," said Niharika Rastogi, a UPSC 2020 candidate.
(With inputs from IANS)
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