CSS exam: the official view

THIS is with reference to Junaid Khan’s letter “CSS exam: a civil servant’s view’ (June 3).
It is clarified that all segments of the CSS examinations, the annual competitive examinations conducted to recruit civil servants (BS-17), are devised, keeping in view the existing educational systems in the country, syllabi (graduation/post-graduation) of various subjects, the comfort level of candidates in terms of their academic specialisation and, possibly, the most effective mechanism to assess their capabilities vis-à-vis the advertised posts.

The scheme of CSS examinations consists of three parts: first, compulsory subjects; second, optional subjects; and third, psychological test and viva voce. Whereas, equal marks (600 in each case) are allocated to compulsory and optional subjects, the viva voce is assigned 300
marks, making the aggregate total of 1500 marks.
The rationale behind the three sets of tests is based on the FPSC’s endeavour to provide equal opportunities to candidates so as to determine their merit on the touchstone of equity, fairness and transparency. The compulsory subjects make the basic threshold for qualifying the examinations. They are meant to evaluate the common knowledge, academic and intellectual faculties and insight of the candidates. By the same token, through the viva voce, inter alia, candidates’ communication skills, analytical abilities and emotional stability are judged.

The FPSC offers a wide range of optional subjects, low-scoring as well as high-scoring, to be selected by candidates. The individual performance of the candidate in his choicest subjects must not cast any aspersions on the assessment of the examiners, as choice of optional subjects rests with candidates who have to weigh their options to score well in competitive examinations.

It is further clarified that the FPSC has always been responsive to the ever-changing scene of international education. Therefore, new subjects for graduate and postgraduate studies have been added to the syllabi of CSS examinations in recent years.

In 2007 the Commission hired the services of a consultant to study the civil service examination system of developed and neighboring countries and make recommendations. He reported that the FPSC’s current system, of assessment and evaluation of candidates’ suitability for posts of the Civil Service, being very comprehensive, was one of the best in reckoning.
It goes without saying that the conduct of CSS examinations is a very important undertaking of the FPSC. Over the decades, it has stood the test of time, and its stakeholders have always reposed confidence in its merit-oriented results. However, the FPSC would always welcome any plausible proposal towards improving its systems.




ABDUL SABOOR NIZAMANI
Director-General, FPSC
Islamabad


Source

CSS exam: discrepancies



THIS is apropos of Abdul Saboor Nizamani’s letter ‘CSS exam: official view’ (June 15). In the letter the official version is reported by a senior and responsible FPSC official about the CSS examinations.
The writer has tried to prove the existence of a fair and transparent mechanism of the CSS exams by providing an overview of the examination criterion which is totally different from reality. We have no objection regarding the three tests conducted by the FPSC for this competitive examination and we also strongly support their views regarding equal opportunity in this examination.
However, we do not agree with his point of view regarding the fairness, merit and transparency in this examination. As I appeared in CSS 2009 examinations, with roll number 1643, I obtained 669 marks but was declared fail in just one compulsory paper by just six marks. In one of optional subjects, Islamic History, I obtained 152 marks out of 200.
The first attempt of the CSS was both shocking and encouraging for me because my marks were excellent and I just failed by a narrow margin, but I did not lose hope and appeared in CSS 2010. In this attempt in my optional subjects the score was very low, specially in Islamic History: just 80 out of 200 marks as compared to the first one: 152 out of 200 marks.
I did not lose hope and appeared again and obtained 693 marks. I was declared fail in the same compulsory paper; this time just by three marks.
I appeal to the FPSC chairman to reform this institute by reshaping its evaluation policy.
IRFAN AHMED PANHWER
Khairpur
Source

IN Punjab, the Combined Competitive Examinations is conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission to recruit civil servants in Provincial Management Service not on a yearly but on a ‘when required’ basis.
Thus CCE 2011 was advertised in the first quarter of 2011, and the commission had decided to conduct the written examinations on Sept 7, 2011.
However, due to some litigation, the examination was delayed and then it was re-advertised with amendment in the age limit in early 2012.
Probably to ease the candidates, this time PPSC also advertised the month as being June 2012 for the written examination.
Unfortunately, the commission couldn’t stand by its words as no roll number/date sheet has been issued as yet. Once again, the PPSC is going to delay the examinations for unknown reasons.
Almost 25,000 candidates have applied for the exam and some in-service candidates had got a one-month leave to appear in it. But the PPSC caused them to suffer financially and in the form of wastage of time by delaying the exam. Now no one knows when the exam is going to take place.
Even the future of CCE 2011 seems to be in the doldrums.
The PPSC appears to be the most inefficient institution of the country. Its chairman, who happens to be a retired general, has miserably failed to improve its corrupt and incompetent system.


KAMRAN BASHIR DOGAR
Chichawatni, Sahiwal

Source

Governments all over the world create public service commissions for hiring the best people for various jobs. In Pakistan, there is the Federal Public Service Commission for this purpose at the national level and other public service commissions at the provincial level.
The Federal Public Service Commission is performing its duty efficiently by conducting Combined Competitive Examinations (CSS) annually. It also conducts other examinations for various federal government departments on time. It does not delay examinations and play with the future of poor and meritorious candidates. But, unfortunately, the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) lacks behind in this great cause.
It does not conduct combined competitive examinations annually but does so after a gap of every five or six years. Due to this factor, the age limit of young aspirants for the exam expires.
However, other provincial public service commissions conduct the examinations annually like the Punjab Public Service Commission which conducted the Provincial Management Service examinations in 2010.
I request the chief minister, the chief secretary and the chairman of the SPSC on the behalf of youth of Sindh for announcing the dates of the combined competitive exams as soon as possible. Besides, such examinations should be conducted on an annual basis, so that every young candidate of Sindh can offer his/her service for the public.




ABDUL JABBBAR KATIAR
Tando Mohammad Khan

DAWN

By Letter
Published: July 15, 2012

KARACHI: Two retired civil servants died last week. Both of them, in their own ways, represented the best of Pakistan’s civil service in the best of times.

The senior and better known of the two, Masood Nabi Nur, served in every region of the country as commissioner or deputy commissioner and, perhaps, was the first to be the chief secretary of both Punjab and Sindh. By the sheer force of his charming personality, he made his subordinates work hard and never grudged them recognition — this writer was one of them. That is how the civil servants were recruited through a competitive system and then trained.

The other to depart is Imtiaz Ahmed Khan. He was, perhaps, the first to join the civil service after getting a PhD from America before the age of 24, which was the upper age limit for sitting in the CSS exam. He was a gentleman to the core and an effective deputy commissioner of some turbulent districts across the country. The death of the civil servants of yesteryear is to be mourned for their likes are hard to be seen today. Always vulnerable to political pressures and other temptations, they could hold their ground so long as they had the pride of service and were also constitutionally protected against arbitrary action.

After Zulfikar Ali Bhutto assumed absolute authority as head of the state and government and chief martial law administrator, all power emanated from him and his PPP. He broke the civil service into three groups — tribal, secretariat and district — and cancelled their covenants. That confronted the civil servants with a hard choice between the dictates of a person or party or go by the law using their own discretion in a given situation. Most opted for the former.

The time-old rule of recruitment and promotion on merit alone was abandoned. The result of 40 years of Bhutto’s so-called reforms has been that neither the party in power nor the civil servants can govern. Every politician in power selects his own favourites from a loose cadre or rank outsiders. It has become what the Greek call a ‘kakistocracy’ or government by the worst men.

In that kind of selection, personal preferences outweigh merit and suitability. It is sheer good luck of the people if personal loyalty and competence happen to combine in one official. People, as a whole, have lost trust in the integrity and independence of civil servants, including their specialised cadres like police, economic planners, financial experts and all the rest. The replacement of a ruling party through elections, even if fairly conducted, will not lead to impartial governance unless the civil servants are appointed on merit and are made to act under the law and are punished when they do not.

Kunwar Idris

http://tribune.com.pk/story/408673/d...ivil-servants/

__________________
what humbugs we r,who pretend to live for beauty and never see the dawn :)

OVER the years the power and efficiency of the bureaucracy deteriorated to a large extent. The main problem for today’s bureaucracy is political interference. People in important posts serve more as personal servants of politicians and ministers rather than servants of the state.
This has led to a despotic and corrupt regime of bureaucratic officers at the top. A fresh, new and competent officer who wants to go by the book is sure to get into trouble with his seniors and politicians.
Such officers are punished by making them OSD (officers on special duty) or by posting them to far-flung areas of the country.
To make the bureaucracy independent of political influence a post of ‘chief secretary of Pakistan’ must be created. He will be the seniormost grade – 22 officer of the civilian bureaucracy and will be responsible for the overall postings, promotions and decisions.
Just like the officers in the military owe their allegiance to the chief of army staff and look up to him for their defence when it comes to political wrangling, so should the civilian bureaucracy look up to an officer who is from amongst them and knows their difficulties.
The chief secretary will chair regular meetings among the chief secretaries of the provinces and federal secretaries just like an army chief conducts regular meetings with corps commanders for better coordination and unanimity of views.


HAMZA NAVEED
Lahore

Source

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: In a major initiative to strengthen the bureaucratic set-up in Balochistan, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Asrhaf has revisited the policy of posting and transfer of civil servants in the province.

During the recent months, Balochistan has seen reluctance on part of bureaucracy to serve in the province because of the law and order situation and many officers having domicile from other provinces even refused to serve in the province because of threats to their lives.

The Prime Minister’s House spokesman on Sunday said the prime minister, during his recent visit to Balochistan, had issued directions to devise a policy for appointment of capable, honest and senior officials of law enforcement agencies to improve law and order situation in the province.

In accordance with the policy of the government to arrest the fast deteriorating law and order situation in the province, the prime minister had revisited the policy of transfer of PAS/DMG/PSP officers to Balochistan and accorded approval to a new policy in that regard, he said.

The restoration of law and order and peace in Balochistan was one of the top priorities of the Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition government, the prime minister had said during his visit to Balochistan, adding that the federal government would fully assist the provincial government in that regard.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...3-8-2012_pg1_4

__________________
what humbugs we r,who pretend to live for beauty and never see the dawn :)

Rotation policy: 90 Punjab DMG officers to be sent to Balochistan

By Anwer Sumra
Published: August 17, 2012

LAHORE: More than half the District Management Group (DMG) officers serving in the Punjab are to be transferred to Balochistan under a new rotation policy issued by the federal government, The Express Tribune has learnt.
An Establishment Division official said that Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had approved the policy and it had been issued last Saturday. He said that lists of the DMG, now known as the Pakistan Administrative Service, and the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officers in the province who would be subject to the new policy would be prepared.

The official said that the federal government’s aim with the policy was to end the shortage of qualified officers in the province. He said that the policy would affect Punjab domicile officers who had not served in Balochistan or not completed their mandatory tenure in the province, as well as Balochistan domicile officers who had been serving in the Punjab for more than three years.

The official said that the new policy would promote national cohesion and help remove anti-Punjab sentiment in Balochistan. He said that Balochistan domicile officers would be shifted “immediately”.

A Punjab government official said that Dawood Bareach, the special health secretary, Lahore District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal and Waqas Alam, additional secretary for Mines and Minerals, were Balochistan domicile officers who would be affected by the policy. None of them have been transferred yet.

The Establishment Division official said that Punjab domicile officers who had not served outside the province would be shifted to Balochistan before Punjab domicile officers who had served some time outside the province but not completed their tenures.

Of the 170 DMG officers serving in the Punjab, around 90 have not served in other provinces or have not completed their mandatory stay in other provinces, an official told The Express Tribune. Most of the Punjab domicile officers have not served outside the province, he said. These officers include 35 in BS-18, 67 in BS-19 and 68 in BS-20. They are serving as administrative secretaries, divisional commissioners, special secretaries, district coordination officers, director generals in various authorities, and additional secretaries and staff officers to the chief minister. Under the new policy, these mid-career officers would be shifted to Balochistan in phases.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17th, 2012.

Source: Express Tribune, 17 August 2012

__________________
Muhammad Ali Asghar

JUST a few decades ago, joining the Pakistan civil service was the dream of every top student graduating from an elite university.
Civil servants stood out for not just their overall outlook, but were also well-read and intellectual.
Today, however, few people with high academic achievements and potential are interested in pursuing this career.
While the overall decline in the quality of education is one of the reasons, the major reason has to do with the structure of civil service recruitment: the Central Superior Services (CSS) examination that is the entry point into the Civil Service of Pakistan, and its assessment techniques.
The foremost problem is the very structure of the exam. Candidates are required to appear for six compulsory subjects, each of 100 marks, and can choose from a list of optional subjects that range from carrying 100 to 200 marks to fulfil the remaining requirement of 600 marks. If you pass the exam you move on to the next step, which is the interview.
The problem is that the compulsory subjects — Essay, English, Everyday Science, Current Affairs, Pakistan Affairs and Islamiat — do not judge the candidates’ intellectual ability. They require rote learning from the prescribed state perspective.
The English section tests antonyms, synonyms and how fast one can read English passages in a given time to answer questions. Students are not trained for this in Pakistan’s educational curriculum. The Essay subject tests knowledge of Victorian-era English with a major focus on flowery language, and the usage of quotations and idioms. This again requires rote learning. If you fail this component, you fail the entire examination — which happens to more than half the candidates who appear every year.
Even bigger problems exist with Pakistan Affairs, Islamiat and Current Affairs, which together account for 50 per cent weightage of the compulsory subjects.
The questions asked are such that there is no single answer. Here are some examples: “Describe the dignity and superiority of Islam with proof as compared to other religions” (2000); “Write down a comprehensive essay on the judicio-political system of Islam” (2002); “What is the concept of ‘Khalafat’ in Islam?” (2001).
Islam in Pakistan is extremely diverse in ideology. What line are students to follow to get high marks?
Pakistan Affairs asks questions such as “Analyse the main causes of the debacle of East Pakistan. What are its consequences on the history of Pakistan?” (2000), and “As a result of British-Hindu conspiracy on the eve of Independence the state of Pakistan which ultimately emerged in August 1947 was not so strong as visualised by the Quaid-i-Azam…. Elucidate”
(2003). What is a student to do if he believes with evidence that there was no British-Hindu conspiracy?
The questions are shockingly discriminatory and do not allow true intellect to pass the exams. Candidates are forced to memorise the state-sponsored narrative and are barred from thinking out of the box. The analysis required must be in line with the dominant narrative and ideology.
With the science subjects, it’s nearly impossible to score high in even subjects such as maths and economics because the examiners only care about the ‘right’ answer. The system followed throughout the world is that marks are allotted for the steps taken in working towards an answer, not just for the right answer.
As a result, rarely does anyone opt for science subjects; most choose high-scoring subjects such as journalism and political science. The subjects are not equally weighed in difficulty and in terms of assessment.
These discriminatory compulsory subjects could be replaced with simple verbal and analytical tests that gauge the students’ analytical abilities. There should be less stress on the English language since perfection in this regard is not necessarily a good indicator of intellect.
The grading of the CSS examinations is not centralised. Answer scripts are left to the mercy of individual examiners who are likely to grade according to personal biases and training.
Some graders might be more generous, others stingy with marks. There is no uniformity or standard grading key, leaving students hoping mainly for good luck. There is no way for a critical and analytical thinker to pass these exams.
A serious revision is needed in the pattern and structure of the CSS exam and its assessment. Instead of gauging students through their ability to memorise books and write lengthy essays, the exam should judge the analytical ability of the student.
A good example is the United Kingdom’s Graduate Fast Stream, the first step of civil service recruitment, which is a test of verbal reasoning and mental arithmetic, and continues with innovative techniques such as the ‘situation judgment test’ which examines candidates’ ability to handle different tasks, argue a case, deal with people and implement projects.
While the test is highly rigorous, the focus is on candidates’ core qualities of analysis, communication, execution and the ability to deliver.
The bureaucracy underpins the success of a nation, and Pakistan desperately needs to restructure and refine its bureaucracy by attracting leading intellectuals.
A good starting point would be a CSS examination that is focused on assessing core human abilities rather than in-depth knowledge to distinguish between intellectuals and rote learners, and brings the best minds into the civil service. Strengthening the bureaucracy is key to checking the corruption of politicians, and reducing the ability of the Pakistan Army to interfere in domestic policymaking.
A weak democracy has historically worked in the favour of both the army and politicians, and hence we don’t, perhaps, see the will to reform the civil service recruitment structure or assess whether the CSS exam is actually bringing in the right people to do the job.
The writer is a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, D.C.
Source