Introduction

In preparation for recruitment into government agencies, marginalized Dalit youth are encouraged to participate in the Public Service Commission (PSC) Exam Preparation program. Through this program, PDRC provides financial, technical and moral support to youth as they prepare for careers in the government sector.  PDRC provides guidance, motivation and helps the candidates in every possible way to ensure their successful recruitment into public sector jobs.

Background

The idea of the PSC preparation campaign stems from thorough research on Dalit’s representation at bureaucracy and Dalit’s performance on Public service examination conducted by PDRC. It is a rather disturbing fact that Brahmin and Ksetry that makeup 30% of the population have 84% presence in bureaucracy while Dalits despite being 13% of the population have far less representation in public sector job, i.e less than 1 %. Dalits’ meager representation in government means they have little access to policy formation and implementation-perpetuating Dalit community’s impoverished way of life, generation after generation.

Post-2006 revolution, Nepal has embarked upon an unprecedented journey of leveling out the field for the players from every rung through various affirmative actions. Public service Act of 2007 has reserved a 4% seat in public sector jobs for the candidates from Dalit. In the beginning years, however, the reserved seats for Dalits went unoccupied due to poor academic background; Dalit Candidates would barely make it to the qualifying exams. In this context, PDRC’s research team thoroughly studied the prevailing scenario and pitched the idea of launching a collaborative campaign to address this issue with fellow Dalit NGOs. As a result, PDRC has been leading this campaign as the “PSC Exam Preparation Program” since 2010.

Procedure

With fairness being one of its core values, PDRC strictly speaks against favoritism and nepotism and stands for merit and need-based support. Under PSC exam preparation support, PDRC provides technical and moral support to all the candidates from the Dalit community who apply for help but provides financial assistance to those who need the most and deserve the best.