What did they actually want to assess?

This is an open letter to Chairman JKPSC and was published by the dialy Rising Kashmir. I am not trying to be a typical egotist in writing all this to you but the aim is to be faithful to one’s society and self and relate objectively what I ( and may be many others) have felt in the so called INTERVIEW PROCESS. Yes! I am referring to the interview process that was adopted for the selection of lecturers in English in Secondary Education Department for Kashmir division candidates. My interview was on the 26th Feb, 08; the last day scheduled for the job. And this is what happened:When I entered the hall, around 12:45 pm, I found three persons there: one in the central chair, other going to the bathroom that was attached to the room. I was asked to sit with my back to the third one who was busy doing some paper work. The man in the centre started with my percentage and added why I have secured less than most of the girl students. I had no answer except blaming the newly installed semester system of the university. Then he asked,” Where do you live?” “Islamabad” I said, and he started asking why it is named so and what are the famous tourist sports there and why I haven’t yet visited certain places. “What do you do”, He changed the topic and I was relaxed, expecting something reasonable. “M.Phil. from CIEFL, Hyderabad in Literary theory and Psychology: using the knowledge of personality types from psychology, we are trying to see what kind of personalities emerged in different literary movements of Twentieth century.”He immediately asked the man coming out of the bathroom who was wiping his hands with a towel to take care of me. “Oh! You are from CIEFL, I am also from the same place and now I am a member of a committee there, a great place, modeled on Oxford University, who is your guide,” asekd the new entrant. I answered all. He asked about my research ‘problem’ and I repeated the above sentence. And he ended the discussion. “Your being a CIEFLian attests to your abilities, you should try for higher education: college or university. Best of luck, you can go.” When I came out of the room all the enthusiasm and fervor associated with the day was over and I was wonder struck how on the basis of this they are going to assess my abilities and decide my fate. Mine was not a special case, there were others who where asked more casual and prosaic question than this. In some cases even the subject expert was not present. Sir, we all know (as it has been the norm in the recent past) that interview carries half the marks and it is precisely on this basis that it will be decided if an applicant is in or out. But I am afraid what happened in the process was and is not adequate for assessing the required abilities and qualities that go into the making of a really good teacher unless, the people there have some supernatural and magical powers. On the face of it, it is ridiculous; seems mockery of the process but then may be there is a method involved in it which is not apparent to us and which you alone know. I hope this is something that you would certainly take seriously and reflect upon and if need be, take an immediate action, for there are fates of the people involved in this who have been waiting for this from last five, six years and don’t have any thing else to cling to. I am extremely sorry if in my frankness I have offended you.