CSS success rate

For years, the Central Superior Services examination has been known for its alarmingly low success rate - a trend that continued this year with only 229 candidates passing out of over 15,000 aspirants. While some may argue that such stringent selection ensures that only the cream rises to the top, this recurring pattern also exposes the widening cracks in Pakistan's socio-economic disparities.

On one hand the 2.48% success rate reflects the small number of qualifiers, signifying the rigour of the process. On the other, it reveals the poor preparedness and uneven quality of applicants entering the examination each year. A country of over 240 million people should not have so few individuals capable of meeting the demands of its highest public service exam, unless the system itself is failing to produce capable candidates. The provincial breakdown of the results paints a clear picture of inequality. Punjab continues to dominate with an overwhelming share of successful candidates, while Balochistan, Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir remain grossly underrepresented. This unevenness mirrors the educational and developmental divide across provinces, where access to quality schooling and mentorship remains heavily skewed towards urban and economically privileged areas. Equally concerning is the trend in service preferences. Nineteen out of the top twenty qualifiers chose the Pakistan Administrative Service, while not a single candidate among the top thirty opted for the Foreign Service. Once considered a coveted avenue for representing the country abroad, the Foreign Service's declining appeal hints at growing disillusionment.

The FPSC must take these signals seriously. Pakistan cannot afford an elite bureaucracy that draws from a narrow pool of privilege while neglecting talent from its peripheries. Nor can it allow its once-prestigious services to lose their allure. It is time to reform both the CSS examination structure and the education system feeding into it.