The cluster-based system will prevent raw talent from coming into the system, it should not be implemented at any cost
SKARDU: This is with reference to a news report about reform in the bureaucracy which discussed a massive shake-up in the civil service, including the holding of cluster-based examinations, allowing hiring from the private sector and offering them bigger salaries. The cluster-based system will prevent raw talent from coming into the system and it should not be implemented at any cost. People from remote areas will be directly affected by this system. For example, under the previous system, a graduate who might have done his/her BA privately, and someone who had studied in one of the leading universities of the country had the same opportunity to compete in the CSS examination. However, according to the new system, the private graduate gets no credits and the regular university candidate is more likely to be selected. That’s not all; if someone has a foreign university degree, he will fulfil the selection criteria with flying colours.
It has also been reported that the government wants a selection criteria for the civil service like the one implemented by many private-sector organisations. This is quite ridiculous. One of my friends studied in a top engineering university of Pakistan but was never able to find a job in the private sector, despite having good grades — and he ended up qualifying for the CSS examination. The CSS is the only examination that values talent from all parts of the country. Please do not mess with this system.
Syed Imtiaz Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2015.
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