The Central government has announced a major overhaul in the rules governing the use of scribes for persons with disabilities (PwDs) in competitive examinations. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has issued revised guidelines that mandate examining bodies to create their own vetted pools of scribes within two years, gradually phasing out the widely used “own scribe” system, which has been flagged for malpractice. The new framework applies to all competitive public examinations linked to jobs, admissions in professional and technical courses, and written tests. It is aligned with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, directives of the Supreme Court, and the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. The ministry emphasised that the changes aim to ensure fairness, transparency and integrity in examinations.
