ISLAMABAD: A report by the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) paints a gloomy picture of the Central Superior Services (CSS) results of the last many years.
According to the report, which has been submitted in Parliament, a total of 71 seats remained unfilled in 2013 as compared to 30 seats in 2012 and 45 in 2011. Moreover, the pass percentage in the written exam was 30 per cent in 2002, but came tumbling down to 7.83 per cent in 2012, 1. 93 per cent in 2013 and 3.3 per cent in 2014.

According to the report, in 2012, the government could only fill 240 posts out of 285 positions that were available to candidates.
“There were not enough qualified and eligible candidates to fill out the remaining 45 positions,” the report says.
Disparities
According to the report, the number of vacant vacancies for minorities is also on the rise.
Of the 30 vacant posts in 2012, 17 of those allocated for minorities against their quota remained unfilled. In 2011, the number of vacant posts (for minorities) was 13 out of a total of 45 vacant posts.
The report also sheds light on the glaring provincial disparity in terms of quota, which leads to disagreement between the provinces.
Of the 10,066 candidates in 2012, 788 qualified for the exam with 67 per cent seats allocated to candidates from Punjab, 12 per cent to Sindh (rural), five per cent to Sindh (urban), nine per cent to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), three per cent to Balochistan, as many to Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and Fata and one per cent to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
The region-wise share of allocated quotas remains, according to the report, at 52 per cent for Punjab, 15 per cent for Sindh (urban) and 13 per cent for rural, 10 per cent for K-P, five per cent for Balochistan, three per cent for G-B and Fata and two per cent for AJK.
Diminishing English, current affairs’ skills
According to the report, in 2012, around 82 per cent of the qualified candidates obtained 60 per cent marks in Islamic Studies and 77 per cent candidates in Every Day Science, two per cent in English Essay, 11 per cent in English Precise and Composition, one per cent in Current Affairs and Pakistan Affairs.
Preparation mistakes
Moreover, the report reveals that of the 52 per cent (5,244) students who opted for journalism in 2012, only nine per cent (488) had prior knowledge of the subject. The same trend was reported in other subjects.
Similarly, 97 per cent of the candidates opted for British History, 96 per cent for International Law, 96 per cent for Public Administration, 94 per cent for Forestry, 93 per cent for Geography, 93 per cent for Indo-Pak History, 90 per cent for International Relations, 91 per cent for Sociology and 91 per cent for Urdu, but none of the candidates had studied these subjects before.
The report concludes that the result indicates the non-seriousness of candidates in selection of optional subjects, influence of training academies which run crash preparatory classes and the notion of high scoring subjects.
“Most of these academies tutor potential candidates through selective study and reading which can barely get them through the exam. Quite often, candidates resort to guide books or old notes. Resultantly, most of the candidates end-up with a combination of optional subjects of which either they do not have any academic background or there is no relevance to civil services,” said the report.
It also points out that a majority of candidates rely on substandard study material available in the market. “They have demonstrated glaring flaws both in comprehension and expression as they have abruptly jumped to writing a topic without comprehending its meaning and consequently, loose, lengthy and jumbled stuff is produced without any sense of relevance, clarity and structure.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2014.

No doubt as above said regarding the optional subjects....