Punjab

Record drop in CSS pass rate sparks concern

Punjab had the highest share of 146 successful candidates

Riazul Haq December 06, 2016

In Commerce Group, Kinza Idrees of the Islamabad Model College of Commerce F-10/3 clinched 1st position by securing 983 marks out of 1,500. PHOTO: INP

ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers have given the Federal Public Service Commission exactly a month to prepare and share a comprehensive report on why so many candidates failed to clear the competitive examinations this year.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat was left stunned when the FPSC secretary shared the statistics from the CSS examination of 2016.

Declining CSS results leave top recruiter scratching its head

Sharing details, FPSC secretary Amir Tariq Zaman stated that 92% (8,894) candidates failed English précis and composition while 81%(7,841) students failed the English essay. He added that about 50%, 43% and 36% failed the general knowledge I, II and III, respectively. The FPSC secretary could not satisfy the lawmakers as to why only a meagre 2.09% (202) of the candidates managed to pass the written examination.

The chairman of the committee MNA Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan asked the FPSC secretary what had gone wrong to which the Zaman replied that education standards were falling, among other reasons.

He maintained that the syllabi were revised before 2016 tests and six new subjects were added. “Surprisingly, with the exception of Town Planning and Management [in which 95.99% candidates failed], the candidates scored high marks in the other new subjects,” he stated.

Quoting the reports of the examiners, the FPSC secretary stated that the candidates could not build up an argument from multiple angles and stated invalid facts and arguments, he said adding that the examiners also found that comprehension and expression was much below the secondary level. Zaman also stressed that candidates relied on guidebooks and had no creativity.

Similarly, the FPSC secretary stated that province-wise, Punjab had the highest share of 146 successful candidates followed by 18, 29, 04, 01 from K-P, Sindh, Balochistan and Fata.

Lahore had the highest number of successful candidates where 91 candidates out of 2,730 cleared the written test, followed by 39 from Islamabad, 18 from Rawalpindi and less than 10 from the rest of the major cities in the country.

PTI lawmaker Asad Umar asked the chairperson if he could share a comprehensive analytical report as to what went wrong so that the HEC and academics could help resolve the issue.

“We need to sit and analyse the causes of decline instead of taking to anecdotal evidence,” he maintained.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2016.

COMMENTS (6)

Zeeshan Ahmad | 1 year ago | Reply I am Zeeshan Ahmad. I graduated from Lahore University of Management Sciences in June 2017 with Major in Economics and Minor in Political Science. I took CSS exam held in May 2022 under roll number 053569. It was third and final attempt. The Commission declared me fail in its announced on December 06 2023. When I looked at my scorecard it was absolutely shocking. I had been awarded only three marks in English Essay and seven marks in Pakistan Affairs. It was unbelievable in the sense that I had an essay worth 97 marks. I brainstormed about the topic for 15 minutes After that I wrote a rough outline a draft introduction and a draft conclusion. Then I wrote the first draft of the whole essay. Then I wrote a second draft of the whole essay. Then I wrote a third draft of the whole essay. At last I wrote the final draft in neat. I read my essay four times in silence and for the fifth time a bit louder. There was not a single mistake in English grammar. I still remember my outline my introduction and my conclusion. The topic was Imagination is more important than knowledge. My concluding sentence was Kill the imaginative power of any great civilization at its peak and in a moment it will reduced to ashes And just three marks In Pakistan Affairs paper I had corrected at least thirteen Multiple Choice Questions in Pakistan Affairs paper. How could I get only seven marks It was simply illogical. And impossible How would I attempt four subjective questions in each paper Including Pakistan Affairs I followed the following format Contents of this paper In this paper I have chosen to answer the following four questions. Their detailed outlines are inked here under Q1. Outline with headings and subheadings Q2. Outline with headings and subheadings Q5. Outline with headings and subheadings Q7. Outline with headings and subheadings Detailed Answers The details of the aforementioned outlines are written in the following pages Q1..... Q2.... Q5.... Q7.... Such was my format. Making detailed outlines would take 45-50 minutes. In the rest of the time I would write detailed asnwers. I wrote 37-40 pages on average. Moroever I had printed and had studied published examiner reports for each subject. I would read them carefully before I left for examination center each morning. They would remind me what the examiner eventually said about us--the candidates. Continue if you wish to know more. I had prepared so well for the exam and had executed that plan to the point of perfection as well. It was third and final attempt after all. Being aggrieved I submitted a detailed review petition to the Commission on December 12 2023. In the petition I had requested the Commission to 1. Compare my papers with papers of those top 40 candidates who had qualified the written part of CSS 2022 exam. 2. Compare my papers with papers of those top 02 candidates who had qualified the written part of CSS 2022 exam from the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 3. Compare my papers with papers of the one who topped GB-FATA region in the written part of CSS 2022 exam. I demanded such a comparison because CSS is a completive examination and I am a Pakistan I live in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and I am from FATA. If my papers don t fall short of the aforementioned toppers why shall I be declared fail I waited for a month but the Commission didn t respond. By law it was supposed to respond to me within fifteen days. After month I visited FPSC Headquarters in person and there I found out that my review petition had not been read yet. In addition I had to listen to the extremely arrogant unprofessional and derogatory remarks from the employees of the Commission. When I was sure that FPSC won t respond no what how many times I write to them or make phone calls to them or visit its headquarters I decided to approach High Court. Bear in mind that my father is a government school teacher and earns just enough to feed my family. I couldn t hire a professional lawyer for myself. Thus I learnt the whole process and procedure of submitting a reasonable writ petition by myself. I did so in less than a week. In February 2023 I filed a writ petition against FPSC in High Court Peshawar. The Court ordered the Commission to respond to my review petition expeditiously in its order dated March 07 2023. The Commission turned a blind to the Court s order as well. In April I decided to file a Contempt of Court application. Again the Court ordered the Commission to respond my review petition. But FPSC is still silent. I can show you books that I studied articles that I read research papers that I went through and through and notes that I had prepared for each subject. The strongest evidence is papers themselves. They must be somewhere in FPSC Headquarters and all citizens of Pakistan can read them. Especially professors intellectuals educationists strategists and experts. If nothing they will learn something. Allah be with me and with Pakistan Ameen.

Abbas | 7 years ago | Reply The standing committee must ask atleast as to what is the internal accountability mechanism for paper checkers. It is important to know that how papers are evaluated. what is the objective criterion for grading a particular paper? How lapses in checking are ascertained? How checkers are punished for any misconduct? All these questions must be answered.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS

cueball | 7 years ago | Reply It's not surprising that passing rate is low. Average IQ in World is suppose to be 100, average IQ in Pakistan is 84 (still higher than India). Average means that half of Pakistanis have IQ less than 84. On the bright side - literacy rates for those those aged 55-64 is only 38% where as the literacy rates for those aged 15-24 is 72% ... things are getting better.

Haider Abbas | 7 years ago | Reply Why the candidates, allegedly using guide books as per the FPSC, scored well in all of the newly introduced subjects except for Town Planning and Management? Can FPSC explain the reason of failure of town planning engineers in the paper of Town Planning and Management because one can't say that professionals use guide books. Similarly, if a candidate obtains high marks in eleven papers and fails in Town Planning and Urban Management, one can't say that candidate did not know how to build an argument and explain his ideas.

Sameeh | 7 years ago | Reply FPSC should be held accountable for its arbitrary checking methods. Standing Committee should take lead in reforming FPSC and its methodologies of deliberately filtering out candidates.

Bunny Rabbit | 7 years ago | Reply If every one can pass then were is the exclusivity ?

Replying to X