Declining standards

FPSC points out that most candidates fail to clear the English segment of the test.

While the competitive examination for the country’s civil services is one thousands of candidates appear for in a desperate quest for decent jobs, results announced recently by the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) on November 21 show the extent to which standards are falling. Out of the 11,406 candidates who took the examination, only 235 were able to clear it: a pass percentage of 2.09 per cent. One hundred and seventy-two of those who passed are male and 66 are female.

The pass percentage has been falling steeply. For the previous year, it stood at a slightly more respectable 7.8 per cent, although this number too is low. What is also worth pondering is that only 1,006 candidates appeared last year, with a massive swell seen this time round. The reasons are somewhat unclear, though some senior bureaucrats have pointed to the mushrooming ‘academies’ promising preparation for the examination and holding out false hopes to candidates in exchange for their money. The ‘tuition centre’ sector is one that needs regulation so that false hopes are not built. We wonder, too, if the rapid increase in numbers is also linked to a greater desperation for jobs.

The FPSC has also pointed out that most candidates failed to clear the English segment of the test. This again points to poor educational standards at all levels, beginning at schools. While senior bureaucrats are keen to put in place a screening system that would prevent unsuitable candidates from appearing, we also need to assess what can be done about halting the fall in educational standards as a whole. As in previous years, the civil services exam and its results have simply exposed these flaws once more, showing a steady fall in education imparted and levels of learning attained. For our nation, this is nothing short of disaster, and it is a disaster we must move quickly to tackle before things worsen any further.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2013.

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