29/11/2025
Competitive Examination Centres in the Hills Need Proper Cloak Room Facilities
✍️Sumiran Chettri.
Every year, thousands of students travel long distances across hilly regions to appear for competitive examinations. These examinations are gateways to careers, higher education, and government services. Yet one critical issue continues to be ignored at many examination centres in the hills—the complete absence of safe, legal, and supervised cloak room facilities.
Most examination rules strictly prohibit candidates from carrying personal belongings inside the exam halls. As a result, students are forced to leave their essential items outside with no safety assurance. These include vehicle keys, helmets,jewellery, important documents, wallets, mobile phones, watches, and other accessories.
For candidates travelling from distant villages and towns, often on two-wheelers or public transport, these items are unavoidable. Leaving them unattended outside examination centres places candidates at serious risk of theft, loss, and exploitation. There is often no police supervision, no legal authority managing the process, and no CCTV surveillance. In case of theft or loss, students have no legal protection, no proof, and no accountability mechanism. Many candidates have already suffered financial loss, missed return journeys, and even lost vital documents due to this negligence.
Competitive examinations are meant to ensure fairness, discipline, and equal opportunity. However, forcing students to choose between examination rules and personal safety is not fair. The pressure on candidates before an exam is already immense. Added fear about the safety of their belongings only increases anxiety and affects performance.
It is the collective responsibility of examination authorities, district administrations, and centre management to provide well-organized cloak rooms at all exam centres, especially in hilly regions. These cloak rooms must be legally supervised, equipped with proper storage systems, CCTV cameras, token-based deposits, and security personnel. A small, well-managed facility can save students from major hardship.
We demand that concerned authorities take immediate notice of this serious issue and implement mandatory cloak room facilities at all competitive examination centres. The safety and dignity of candidates must never be compromised in the pursuit of education and employment.
Until this basic facility is ensured, the promise of a fair and secure examination system remains incomplete.