http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...4-2009_pg12_10



The fast and the flawed

By Fawad Ali Shah

KARACHI: A large number of students appearing in the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) exams fail as they consult wrong and flawed books in their preparation for the examinations.

There are almost 57 books published by different publishing companies and all claim to be the ‘best guide’ to different subjects. However, none of them are included in the FPSC’s suggested book list, which specifically deals with preparation for the Central Superior Services (CSS) examinations.

Out of the 57 books available, 33 claim to be the best preparatory books for English, an exam that most students fail. The English books available in the market have ample grammatical mistakes. Experts say that grammatical and other technical mistakes aside, these books tend to confine youngsters to a certain set of questions only. Throughout the various guides, one can find incomplete paragraphs, while spelling mistakes and pirated texts are also an issue. With no actual author, some of the titles available in the market include ‘Easy way to learn English’ by Aafaq Books and Publishing Agency, ‘English for success in life’ by Shining Super Star Book Agency and ‘English for Commission Exams’ by Rising Star Books and Publishing Agency. These are just some of the publications littered with broken sentences and plagiarized material.

In a similar manner, ‘Essays for All,’ authored by M Imtiaz Shahid and Arshad Saeed is a widely circulated book brimming with grammatical errors. Whereas a dictionary has also been published under the name of one of these authors, titled, ‘Mass Media Dictionary’, used by students mastering in Journalism and CSS students, which is a carbon copy of a foreign book, ‘A Dictionary of Communication and Media Studies’, written by James Watson and Anne Hill. When Daily Times contacted the publishing agency of the book ‘Essays for All’, Advanced Publishers, they refused to offer any comments and referred this scribe to the author of the book. One of the authors, Shahid, when contacted, refused to accept that the book was full of grammatical mistakes and said it was published according to best standards. He did not offer any other comments.

The interesting thing is that the books recommended by FPSC at large remain unknown and most of the shopkeepers do not like to keep them in their shops, citing their higher prices and resultant lowered profit margin as the cause. Instead, the shopkeepers usually try to convince people to buy the substandard local books.

Muhammad Rizwan, who runs Dragon bookshop in Empress Market, says that people usually ask for cheaper books, therefore, he does not keep foreign books. “Our profit percentage also remains high with these books,” he said.

As the pirated and flawed books sell like hot cakes, the government has not set up a body to keep a check. Sindh Text Book Board officials say that they are only concerned with the books that are circulating in the government education institutions. Muhammad Irfan, an official of the FPSC Curriculum and Research wing, says that FPSC, in order to guide students, gives them a guideline that recommends books for each and every subject. “If students opt for cheap and low quality books, then it is entirely their decision and responsibility,” he said, while defending the FPSC’s position. However, he says that there are many people who now write books for business rather than for the love of writing.

Provincial Service Commission Selection Committee member Prof Dr Nazeer, who is also a political science teacher, says that it is the government’s responsibility to keep a check on pirated and low quality books. “There should be a proper channel through which publishers can get the material certified by the government before actually publishing it,” he said. He also says that it is the FPSC’s responsibility to guide aspiring commissioned officers. “Usually, people steal notes made by other teachers and publish them under their own name. There are many authors and publishing agencies that do not care about the quality of the material and are publishing books just for fame and money,” he added, while advising the students to follow the FPSC guidelines.

Dr Nasir Jamal Khattak, an expert on English language, says that low-quality books deteriorate the already weak grasp students have of subjects, especially in the case of languages. “In order to learn a language, one needs to have the knowledge of the culture that the languages originally surfaced from,” he says, that these flawed books are further worsening the situation for students that are already opting for shortcuts.

Inam-ur-Rehman, a teacher of journalism and mass communication also regards the reproduction of foreign books under one’s name as morally incorrect, while adding that the government should look into the matter and make sure that such acts are not allowed.

This is highly unfortunate but true. I have come across many books with spelling mistakes and other errors, and most of us blindly follow them and suffer. I remember a csp commenting on one of my friends " You people expect to get good marks and fetch top positions by studying books by Dogar sons etc on which one can find 3-4 mistakes on each page!! ". Sad state of affairs i must say. The thing required is that we should stop studying those " Exam cram " or " Guides and stick to text books, make our own notes and then try our lucks.

What makes the situation even worse is that fact that most, if not all, Intermediate and Matriculate students are taught all their courses in Urdu - even in the "English-medium schools".

The #1 problems facing the overwhelming majority of CSS candidates today is the inability to convey their knowledge and ideas in grammatically sound English.

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He conquers who endures.

I think one who is preparing for CSS, should not rely entirely on books and especially on locally published books. The best way would be to take topics from the books, search the internet resources for the topics and prepare your own notes.

This will require a bit extra time and effort but I think it's worth it as our local books still classify Pluto as the ninth Planet and many other factual errors apart from the grammatical mistakes.

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When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk. ~ The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

this report is based on the well organised propaganda against those publishers who copy the orignal books. if original book is availabe on 1000, its copy will be on 150. is it not a benefit for candidates. this article advocates those publishers who has copy rights and their business has affected by the cheap but high standard books availabe in market.


if students buy the prescribed books of commission then he will be mad =)) & hundred of thousands of rupees will be spend from his pocket. thus css wud be only for elite class. all the csps prepare from the same books which they are trying to prove ill-standard.

there is not flaw. csa is full of brilliant offices and they are serving the nation. i will give u example exploring the world of english is easily availabe in market its price is 250 or so on. if u buy prescribed books of commission it will worth more than 10000 and it will mad the aspirant too before entering into csa.

No hard feelings.

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"My life was too short to acheive the conquest of the whole world." Gengis Khan

Mongol Emperor