Dear Editor,
A civil servant should be an all-rounder, not a subject specialist. Judging the competence of job aspirants on the basis of their knowledge of maths is wrong and an injustice to students without maths background.
Only candidates of maths, physics and engineering are in advantageous positions in any competitive exam, where there is a maths paper with full 100 marks. The students of the remaining streams suffer.
We would like ask a question to those who advocate that knowledge of maths is a must to become an officer or a babu: Why do you people not opt for maths as optional paper in the APPSCCE or the UPSC? Why do candidates with maths background take arts subjects in the APPSCCE? Why is it that these people want the elementary maths paper only in Group B non-gazetted posts and Group C posts?
The reason is that for maths experts, elementary maths is just like a child’s play and they easily secure 98-99 percent marks. But for us it’s like climbing Mt Everest.
Why do huge numbers of candidates without maths background crack the APPSCCE? Because in APPSCCE, we have the freedom to choose subjects apart from English and general studies. But in other exams, maths is imposed on non-maths background candidates.
Therefore, we appeal to the APPSC and the Pema Khandu government to consider our appeal for replacing elementary maths paper with optional paper at least for Group B non-gazetted posts.
Sincerely,
Aspirants