KARACHI:
Undoubtedly the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) is considered as one of the most transparent and meritorious institutions of Pakistan. Every year, the FPSC, through the Central Superior Services (CSS) examinations, recruit talented candidates against the various bureaucratic positions across the country. Unfortunately, since the past few years, the commission’s credibility has come under serious fire due to mismanagement problems.
This time, yet again, the paper of the English precise and composition was extremely difficult to understand. The vocabulary used in the synonyms-antonyms portion was obsolete and archaic. The words in the paper were misspelled, which frustrated many. Sharing the paper on social media, candidates expressed severe concerns and called the paper a tool to discourage competitors.
Since the CSS exam is aimed at producing bureaucrats, not English philosophers, the analytical skills and creativity of candidates should be checked instead of their cramming capability. Even though English skills are crucial for our bureaucratic system to work, challenging the candidates’ abilities through such papers is sheer injustice to them.
Therefore, we request the FPSC’s chairman and the concerned authorities to look into this serious matter and solve the problem so it could be avoided in the future in order to safeguard both the candidates’ precious time and also the commission’s prestige.
Abdul Majed Khan
Islamabad
Published in The Express Tribune, February 26th, 2021.
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