Dear Editor,
The study of mathematics as a “demonstrative discipline” begins in the 6th century BC with the Pythagoreans, who coined the term “mathematics” from the ancient Greek µ???µa (mathema), meaning “subject of instruction”..
After passing class 10th, I was the happiest person in the world as I was never going to meet my hate most subject –maths in my entire life. This was what I was thinking at that time. But alash ! I was completely wrong , math’s was going to chase me for at least 12-13 years. In fact, it was going to write my fate.
After completing my post graduation in the year 2003, I was very happy, full of life, energetic and promising young man. My poor and illiterate parents had lots of expectation from me. Like other unemployed youth ,I too started to apply for the govt . job ,as we do not have private company in our state.
For the first time, after written exam I appeared in viva –voice for posts of Extension officer under rural development in the year 2003, then viva –voice for the posts of police Sub-inspector in the 2005 and in the same year I visited Guwahati for personality test after clearing written exam for the post of Tax assistant, conducted by Staff selection commission(SSC).
But could not got selected due to poor marks in maths paper , though I did excellently in English and GK. Thereafter, I wrote may exams of clerk and other posts but could not make it to final selection because of low marks in maths.
Jt.BDO was my last ray of hope ,as usual could not cleared its recruitment test as there was math’s . Like me there are hundreds of people who have the same story.
Since 2003 till last month I have been writing the competitive exams , but could not make the sense why maths knowledge are so important for the post like that of JtBDO , Extension officer, police Sub –inspector, constable ,Driver, mechanic, peon, MTS, Dhobi, cock and others.
After being selected to these posts ,they are never going to use knowledge of circle, triangle, cube in their entire professional career.
Recruitment agencies of other state and central government have introduced Reasoning/Mental aptitude in competitive exams, so that mental capability of candidates could be tested along with General knowledge. After all, while dealing with the public ,metal alertness is needed not the knowledge of Cos tita, Algebra, quardratic equation, trigonometry etc.
But our recruiting agency of state is still stuck to old method and maths knowledge is everything for them.
I sometime, interact with the senior bureaucrats of state on the this topic. They say that if you cannot solve the simple math’s , you do not deserve the govt. job. And I reply them that why do not pick up the maths paper of 80s and 90s , and compare with today’s math’s paper of competitive exams.
At this, they have no answer.
Some of them told me that , maths paper is need for filtration of candidates for interview. But they forget that in this process only non- maths background candidates are filtered. If one check the statistics, it is the majority of engineering and maths students who comes in final selection, where there is a maths paper. English and GK paper are equally tough and easy for the candidates of all the streams.
It is the maths which determine the final merit list. Because in maths, one can score 98 % to 99 % as we have seen in case of recently held exam for the posts of District Coordinator under the department of science and technology which is not possible in other two papers.
Government allow us to study any subject in colleges but when it is about earning bread and butter, we the non-math’s background candidates are asked to solve the moths paper. Is this not injustice to us? Why do not they understand that after the gap of 6-7 years , it is extremely difficult to solve even the elementary maths ? is the knowledge of maths only scale to measure the capability and ability of unemployed youth ? Why govt. just cannot give fair competition to candidates of all stream by replacing it with reasoning ?
By keeping maths paper with full hundred marks ,you are ,indirectly , reserving the govt. job for the candidates of maths background only. With the introduction of so called recruitment /screen test where , you have made it almost impossible for us to even appear in written exam.
We are being removed in the very first stage of recruitment process due to poor maths knowledge.
If the knowledge of maths is the only way to get government job , why don’t government shut down all the streams from colleges and university except maths. Or why do not government explain to parents/children right from primary level, the importance of maths to get government job so, that student may not dare to leave maths subject.
Now I have crossed upper age limit and have a wife and kids., for living ,I am planning to join union/association so that I may have better chance of getting contract/supply work.
But I want my younger brothers and sisters not to suffer from the pain which I and hundreds people of like me have gone through. And this can happen only if government listen to appeal of non-maths background candidates, and in up coming advertisement of APPSC and SSC , there is no maths paper in its competitive exams or it has been replaced by reasoning or marks of maths have been reduced to half.
I wish, Maths never existed. You have destroyed life and career of hundreds of non-math’s background students, you have murdered the hope of hundreds of poor parents , above all, you have turned hard earned degrees of hundreds of non-maths background candidates, into just a piece of paper.
Our life would have been different , had there been no maths.
Yours,
Jumili Karo