By Ahad Khan
The Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) recently declared the Central Superior Services (CSS) examination results for 2023. According to the notification, only 408 candidates out of 13,800 sailed through the prestigious examination – an abysmal 2.96 pass percentage.
In 2022, as many as 20,262 students sat the examination and 223 of them were declared successful.
Although the number of candidates who appeared in what can be described in our part of the world as the ‘king of exams’ declined, the craze for the prized elite services of Pakistan continues to grow (which can be borne out by statistical data of the past few years).
As I set down to contemplate why people in Pakistan are obsessed with CSS, whether the declining percentage an indicator of a lack of interest in the civil service anymore and why is the pass percentage abysmally low, I began hunt for the most suitable person to slake my curiosity.
I needed someone who must have been in the thick of things – an ‘expert’ – and after some reflection, I decided to sit with former Civil Service Academy director general Umer Rasool.
Let’s ask the seasoned bureaucrat
Mr Rasool graciously accepted my request and before I started formal questions, I praised him for being a 'flamboyant' former DG. As if the use of word 'flamboyant' hit the raw nerve, he immediately started flowing like a river from which my thirst of curiosity started to quench.
“People with idealism and flamboyance are not acceptable to this system. Bureaucrats are mere part of the system. They can’t change the system,” he explained.
“We are just 'cogs in the wheel' which get replaced from time to time,” he was forthcoming.
But why this craze?
He began to answer this question even before I could ask him as if he was expecting it.
“The lure of bureaucracy stems from our colonial past to which we are still enslaved,” he said.
“Our ancestors would have seen a deputy commissioner's protocol during their interactions with him, and they inadvertently had fallen for that pomp and show. That was the eureka moment when they wished that one day their son or daughter would become an officer like this 'gora' who rules the roost,” he said while delving into history.
He said running after perks and privileges seemed the only motivation for going for CSS. And initially few students might want to genuinely serve the public but it didn’t take much time when their behaviours changed through an age-old pattern of training these otherwise compassionate people. He denotes this behavioral change as 'schism in the soul'.
As for my second question about the declining number of students in the competitive exam, he said this was only a “short-term phenomenon”. It might be due to abrupt political upheavals of the last two years which prompted many people to seek their fortunes in the foreign shores, he said.
He said soon we would witness a huge chunk of people vying for success in the civil service as the ones left behind in the country would have to climb the ladder.
Mr Rasool, a seasoned bureaucrat, sounded critical of the bloated bureaucracy and he would advise the youth not to dream of becoming a ‘Babu’.
A journalist’s viewpoint
I also had an opportunity to have an alternative point of view of a journalist with a decades-long experience in senior editorial positions.
He offered his opinion on these very aspects of the competitive examinations in these words.
"In my modest opinion, most students try their luck in competitive exams for typical reasons - parental or family aspirations and peer pressure.
“Second, CSS or PMS offer the shortest route to career with plenty of incentives other professions do not ensure. So in a way, it is natural for them to hanker after privileges the elite groups offer.
“Not for nothing do most candidates opt for elite Foreign Service, Pakistan Administrative Service or police,” he said.
“I doubt many people are bothered about being dutiful or patriotic. The first and foremost is the hunt for a privileged career path. And that's how it should be!” said the journalist who wished he not be named.
There may be some people, he said, who go for the exam just for the heck of it. “One can't say how many students have such an approach.”
The virtues of being a "Babu" or "Afsar", especially in rural settings, are drilled into minds of children. This may be due to deprivation people in backwaters face and their dreams of life in urban areas."
As for the question of decline in the number of candidates in the last one year and low pass percentage, he said: "Well, it reflects sadly on the CSS examination system and more so on the authorities.
“Reform is something those in a position of authority abhor. And I have seldom heard about reforms in the competitive exams.
“The government, on one hand, says more and more brains are required to steer the country towards progress and, on the other, seems least bothered about filling seats,” he wonders.
He is of firm opinion CSS or any other competitive examination is rightly considered the preferred choice of many. “Another factor is unemployment and shrinking opportunities which compel people to aspire the civil service career,” he insisted.
“It may have shortcomings but despite that, I would like my son or daughter or for that matter anyone to go for it if they have good educational background and no better alternative,” he suggested.
“It is and should be the preferred choice,” he said, almost waxing lyrical about the coveted service.
In his view, CSS is the only means through which a common man can become part of a fairly decent system.
As far as my two cents on the matter are concerned, let me reserve it for some other day. Till then enjoy these ‘excerpts from experts’.
My opinion is loading…