Hyderabad: Manual typewriting, a skill-based course that has shaped generations of typists who have secured good jobs in the government sector, will soon become history. A proposal to discontinue examinations for the manual typewriting course has been sent to the state government by the technical education department. If the proposal is approved, it will effectively signal the end of formal examinations on typewriters. For several decades, typewriting has not only been a skill but also a gateway to job opportunities. After learning the art of hitting the keys with clinical precision and speed, several lakhs of unemployed youth have found jobs in the government and judicial sector. With the advent of computers and latest technologies, the typewriting exam has gradually changed to a computer-based test. The State Board of Technical Education and Training (SBTET) has been conducting the typewriting exam on typewriter and computer-based modes. The exam is held twice a year, with the first exam in July and the second in December and around 4,000 students appear for this exam every year. Candidates taking the exam on typewriters have to bring their own machines to the exam centres. Those who opt for the computer-based exam mode can take the exam by going to the centre.
Around 350 institutes across the state are running a six-month typewriting course on typewriters, with monthly fees ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000 depending on the location of the institute. The proposal by the technical education department to abolish the typewriting exam on typewriters has not gone down well with the typewriting institutes in the state. B Sathish Babu, president of Telangana Recognised Typewriting, Shorthand and Computer Association, said students’ typing speed and accuracy can be better only on typewriters than on computers. Stating that the Staff Selection Commission and courts are recruiting for stenographer and typist jobs, he argued that Telangana candidates would lose jobs if typewriters were abolished. “There are some problems in the software of the computer-based exam. It should be fixed and given to the institutes. “The government should also reconsider the proposal and continue conducting typewriting exams on typewriters and computers,” he said.
