[ Nyatum Doke ]
A few days ago, one student called me and said, “When will APPSC exams be held? Sir, in 2020, when I started my preparations, I was only 22 years old. Today I am 27 years old. Did I do wrong by committing to my dream of clearing the exam?” he said in a quavering voice. I felt sad to hear that, but I consoled him somehow.
The question, however, is pertinent as many aspirants are sailing the ocean of preparations like a rudderless ship.
Four years have elapsed since the last APPSC exams were held in 2020. After the results were announced in 2020, I could see so many youths motivated and excited to prepare for the exam. However, as the APPSC fiasco shook the entire state, the examination process lingered for an eternity. In these four years, while navigating the endless wait, many dreams have been crushed and buried; one who was young and energetic in 2020 is now four years older, and some have become overage.
However, this is not a new trend. The pace of the examination is something to be seriously looked into.
As a mentor to some aspirants, I keep telling them, “Do your duty – study. That is the only thing that you can do.” But, while saying so, we also need to understand the plight of the aspirants. For how long can the aspirants sit inside the four walls, burning the midnight oil, when everything seems dark and opaque for them? It is observed that some aspirants who were very promising and enthusiastic in 2020 have now vanished from the scene, I believe to find some other means of livelihood for themselves and their families.
Everyone is not lucky enough to have the resources to survive for four-five years of preparations without doing anything.
Then, as a relief measure, the government has raised the age bar to 38 years, but that is good for mostly in-service candidates. If there are some of the in-service candidates who have turned overage in these four years, whom will they blame? For others, it usually matters as only a few will be taking the exams until the age of 38. We should not be expected to wait until someone reaches 38. The clock ticks and time doesn’t wait; with every second passing, the aspirants are getting older and anxious. This doesn’t augur well for the state, as it is getting devoid of its young potential workforce.
Then many sprinkle salt on the wounds of the aspirants and preach, “Why wait for one exam? Do some business or work somewhere else; take other exams.” But it needs to be understood that it was never the fault of the aspirants that they wanted to take the APPSC exam, or that they wished to be part of the steel frame of the state. So, any blame on the youths for choosing the APPSC exam does not stand aground. We should accept that the youths have not failed themselves; instead, the system has failed them.
I understand that SOPs are being prepared and other measures are being taken by the government. But for now, a certain deadline should be fixed for the completion of the SOPs and the implementation of the different measures – say, five months, or even a year, if needed – but there needs to be a timeline; this will ease the pain of the aspirants.
Then, a tentative exam calendar should be prepared with expected dates, along with the number of vacancies accumulated in these four years. Then, regarding the APPSC fiasco, the parties, if they feel that their concerns have not been addressed should knock on the door of the courts instead of blocking the entire process.
The fiasco has indeed shaken the spirit and broken the trust of the people to its core, but we cannot let the tug of war from becoming a roadblock; the process must be allowed to start, because there is no solution to scepticism.
The toll of the delays on the aspirants is huge; aspirants are stranded in the middle, with nowhere to go after putting in so much time and energy in their years of preparations. Now, we should ponder how to help the youths caught up in this APPSC limbo. The deferred hopes of our youths should not be allowed to turn into despair. Now it is time to end this ‘delay crisis’. (The contributor is DIPRO, Lohit.)