BHOPAL: In an examination conducted by tainted Vyapam for posts of peon and watchman on Sunday, 1,600 engineering graduates and 14,000 post-graduate candidates appeared, amplifying premium on lowest-rung government jobs.

Around 3.62 lakh students appeared for exam conducted on 1,019 centres across the state for 1,333 vacancies of Class IV employees in 58 state government departments .

In its notification, Madhya Pradesh Board of Professional Examination (Vyapam) had stated candidates should have minimum Class VIII qualification from recognized school to apply for Combined Class IV recruitment 2015.

Vyapam public relations officer Alok Nigam said, “Around four lakh students appeared for exam, including 1,600 engineering graduates and 14,000 post-graduates.”

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A candidate from Raisen, Kailash Mishra, who appeared from Excellence School centre, said, “I appeared for exam to test my luck. I am doing D Ed. I won’t stop studies. There should be more job opportunities for engineering and other graduates.”

On condition of anonymity, an engineering graduate from Bhopal and aspirant for Class IV, said, “I had completed BE from Bhopal last year. After searching for job for last one year, I could not get other opportunity. It is a government job.” There were other engineering graduates like him, who appeared for the exam, he said.

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AN MBA degree holder said his family forced him to appear for exam. “As I could not get a job, my family asked me to appear for all exams. It is at least a government job,” a student said.

Vyapam authorities said, a candidate in Jabalpur centre chewed optical mark recognition (OMR) when invigilators found his actions suspicious. Another student in Hoshangabad was found cheating during the exam.

