Editor,
I would like to draw the kind attention of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission regarding the Assistant Engineer (Civil) examination. The Commission issued the examination calendar for February 2025, stating that the AE(C) exams would be conducted in May/June 2025. However, in the last part of March 2025, the Commission changed the syllabus for AE(C) with hardly two months left for preparation. Changing the syllabus at the last moment was a mistake by the Commission, which seems unaware of the vastness of the engineering course, which takes four years to complete. This change in syllabus has demoralized several aspirants. It is impossible to prepare for an engineering examination in just two months, and the Commission should understand this.
Now, there is a rumor that a qualifying examination will be conducted with papers like General Studies, General English, and General Knowledge to sit for the Mains exam. There will reportedly be no paper for the Technical Engineering subject in the qualifying examination. If this is true, it will be the biggest joke of the year, as there will be no technical paper for a technical post-only General Studies, English, and General Knowledge. What will an engineer do with General Knowledge? A candidate who is strong in technical knowledge but weak in GK will not qualify for the Prelims, while a candidate who is weak in technical subjects but good in GK will qualify. What kind of logic is this? Are they recruiting engineers or teachers for the AE(C) post?
We, therefore, request the Commission to postpone the AE(C) examination for at least 4-6 months so that aspirants can adequately prepare for the new syllabus. To compensate for the time lost, the Commission should do away with the preliminary qualifying examination and directly conduct the Mains examination to identify the truly qualified technical candidates for the AE(C) post.
I hope the Commission can feel the pulse of the candidates and eliminate the preliminary qualifying examination, which seems more like an examination of luck and chance rather than merit.
An Engineering Graduate