2007 CSS candidates’ training to start in 2009

The candidates who passed the Central Superior Services (CSS) examination of 2007 are expected to start training at the Civil Services Academy (CSA) in February 2009, after a wait of 23 months – the longest break between the CSS exams and the training in the history of the country’s civil services, CSA sources told Daily Times on Monday.

According to government records, the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) on April 23, 2008, issued the final assignation list of those who had passed the CSS exams held in March 2007. In the list, 189 candidates had been appointed to various departments and their batch (36th Common) was to train at the CSA.

OMG training: CSA sources said that the training of 35th Common would end in October after which the 36th Common was expected to start training in November. However, they said that after the training of the 35th Common, the CSA would conduct a three-month course for a group of officials of the Office Management Group (OMG) from November 4. The 36th Common would start their training after the OMG training had been completed.

They said that the previous record of the longest delay was of 20 months, before the training of 32nd Common. The written exam was held in December 2001, the allocations were announced in September 2002 and the training started on August 23, 2003.

The candidates of 36th Common had been perturbed by the prolonged delay. They have urged the government to start their training in November.

No job: Some members of the group told Daily Times that the authorities had yet to notify them about the schedule of their training. They said that they were facing financial problems because they had been required to quit their jobs before they confirmed their availability for the training programme. One of them said that after being dejected he had applied for a job at a cellular company, but was offered a low-profile job that did not pay well.

The government starts to pay CSA trainees two months after their training starts. The candidates said that the CSA should exclusively train CSS candidates. They said that they felt insecure because of the current political instability in the country and because they had not yet received any letter of confirmation from the government.

A CSA official told Daily Times that the rules did not make it mandatory to announce the schedule of CSS training after the announcement of the candidates’ allocation.

Source: Daily Times http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-8-2008_pg13_7