TNPSC candidates piqued by ‘sidelining’ of Tamil

About 300 candidates preparing for Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) Group 2 examination took out a silent march from the Corporation office to the Collectorate here on Monday against omission of questions related to Tamil as a subject.

They submitted a petition to the Collector at the grievance day meeting. M. Senthil Pandi, one of the protesters, said that the earlier pattern – 100 questions in Tamil, 75 in General Knowledge and 25 in Mathematics – had been changed drastically. “Now, there will be 175 marks for GK, including questions on Tamil. This will affect the prospects of students from rural areas,” he said

“The importance of Tamil as a subject is being diluted. It gave scope for students from rural areas to maximise their score. When the focus is entirely on General Knowledge, rural students will stand to lose,” he said. Mr. Senthi Pandi said he himself hailed from a village and could not afford coaching classes which trained affluent aspirants to score well in general knowledge.

T. Selvakumar, another aspirant, said the TNPSC’s allocation of 100 marks for Tamil to English, and English to Tamil translation in the main examination would be a difficult task. “We do not ask for that question to be entirely scrapped. We ask for reduction in its mark weightage,” he said.

T. Muruganantham, a trainer at a coaching institute, said the change in syllabus would not affect the prospects of any aspirant. “Even in the new format, there will be questions on Tamil scholars and their works in the GK section. So, questions on Tamil have not been omitted totally,” he said.

“ Though weightage for translation can be reduced, it is essential for a Group 2 officer to know basic English. They need to at least know how to decipher emails,” he said.