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FPSC to cut CSS waiting period | NUST inks MoUs
FPSC trying to cut waiting period for CSS boys
Islamabad, May 12, 2008: The Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) Chairman, Lt-Gen (retd)
Shahid Hamid, says his organisation is trying to cut down the long wait
successful CSS candidates have to undergo between their written examination and
the actual start of their career.
"The Civil Service Academy Lahore (CSA)
is one year behind schedule because of which successful candidates have to wait
for, at least, one year to join it for training," the FPSC chief said,
expressing his inability to do anything to eliminate the agony of this needless
wait the candidates have to suffer for no fault of their own.
Shahid
Hamid said the CSA was not in his domain, but promised that he would write to
them to dispense with the one year pointless delay that the successful Central
Superior Service (CSS) candidates had to face to join the
academy.
However, successful Central Superior Service (CSS) candidates
say they have to wait over four years to appear in the examination. "With at
least 6 months of preparation, around 15 days to a month for written examination
and another 6 months for the result, the last year's result came out in
September and the interviews ended by February 2008, which adds up another 6
months. The medical examination was finalised in April this year, augmenting
another 3 months," said one candidate and added that after which the final
allocations were announced.
Taking a total time of one year and 10
months, now after 6 months of official waiting as stated by FPSC, the training
will start by October 2008. But looking at the reality, the last batch of 2006
was supposed to start training in October 2007, which began in January 2008.
This means that if the same pattern is followed for the next batch of successful
CSS candidates and the training starts in January, 2009 with 10 months to one
year of CTP (Common Training Programme), the aggregate is 4 years and 7 months
to actually enter the practical life.
"Is this much time justified for a
society like ours where employment and earning is a major problem with majority
coming from poor backgrounds and in need of money, stuck with nowhere to go as
sitting idle for this extended time is not possible?" another candidate
asked.
He said that when the Punjab University could announce results in
only three months of bachelor examination with over 10 times more students, why
the FPSC cannot reduce the written examination results time.
However,
Shahid Hamid said the FPSC had always been extremely careful in marking the
papers and compiling results. He said at times unexpected things happened,
including the inability of a paper checker to finish his job within the given
timeframe. He said such checkers were duly punished.
Yet another
successful CSS candidate said that pregnant women (successful CSS candidates)
are faced with a nightmare. They are deferred in the medical test because of
weight increase. They are told to lose weight immediately after delivery and
come for medical test again. Isn't†it discrimination? The option left with girls
is not to marry if they are to join the Civil Service. If by chance she gets
married, she should not even think of becoming pregnant. This system actually
leaves them between the devil and the deep blue sea with nowhere to go. In other
words for girls it is better not to even think of joining the civil
service.
He said that the female candidates were actually being
discouraged by the system because in the society, certain norms had to be
followed. Parents or even the in-laws are not willing to wait for such a long
time. Where girls get married after giving CSS examination and cannot join the
service because of the time it takes, majority of husbands are not willing to
give such a long time to them.
Another candidate said that such course
requires hectic preparation and is time consuming. This leads the candidates to
the third problem. Time required to prepare for the Civil Superior Services
examination generally takes 6 months to one year depending upon the abilities of
a student. It requires tough study and thorough knowledge.
Additionally,
conducting examination by FPSC in various cities and making centers in local
schools makes another issue. Referring to the example of a school where the last
year's examination was conducted, the preparation for the Sports Day in the
institution was going on with drum beats and lots of noise. Such an environment
for a CSS examination is highly undesirable and augments the sufferings of the
students with inadequate furniture provided to the students, where while writing
on the desk, many a desks fell down and had to be assembled again, resulting in
wastage of time, which students are already short of which adds to the anxiety
and pressure that candidate already undertakes. The crossed leg desks also force
the students to sit with open legs further stretching their muscles."
The
candidate said a person giving examination in FPSC's building in Islamabad in a
peaceful environment cannot be compared with the one sitting in a government
school, having a ramshackle building.
The operating procedures of the
examination also vary from center to center where the FPSC's invigilators follow
strict rules and do not allow the students to have the answer sheet before the
first 30 minutes allocated for MCQ's only, many local school invigilators give
the answer sheets whenever the students ask for it.
"These differences
need to be removed and it is important for FPSC to invest in some central
buildings in major cities for examination because the examination of the caliber
of CSS has to maintain prestige and this will in turn be an investment in state
machinery and future of Pakistan.
Proper furniture and peaceful
environment should be given to students. This will add many a potential
candidates who have to leave because of unbearable physical conditions," the
candidate said adding that the system of two papers a day also needs to be
revised and one paper a day should be taken to give proper time to students so
that examination should be taken for the capability of the student and not of
his physiques.
Shahid Hamid said when the CSS examination was under way,
the FPSC offices are closed to oversee the exercise. If the examination is
spread over more days than the present timeframe, the closure of the FPSC office
would increase. However, he conceded that it was too taxing for candidates to
appear in two papers of three hours each in a day.
The candidate said the
system of two papers in a day with two hours gap is very hectic and alternate
papers leaves the student exhausted and fatigued. When the second paper ends at
5.00 p.m., it leaves no time for the next day's two papers as there are physical
and human limitations as well and at least 6 hours sleep would be taken to
revive energy. "This actually adds to the previously tremendous pressure of the
paper revision and preparation. The end of examination is, in fact, a beginning
of an interminable wait."
The candidate said that the time factor needs
to be reduced to maintain the attraction of the civil services and also to
encourage more and more people to join this service. "The salary structure is in
dire need of reforms and requires revision and attention of the high ups. With
tremendous increase in prices, the salary that a 17 grade officer and even
others get is not by any means sufficient to run a family. People with either
strong background or other sources of income can survive not the ones' who are
in need money to take up the responsibility of their family and this is why the
system itself forces the fresh officers to indulge corruption to make both ends
meet."
Shahid Hamid admitted that the CSS has lost appeal because of
hefty salary structure being offered by the corporate sector. This is very
worrying for the FPSC as well as the government and a debate is constantly going
how to revive the interest of the young boys and girls in the civil service, he
said.
The candidate said that for boys too, the system is cruel. Being
the bread earners of their family they are left in a dilemma of either choosing
part time jobs or applying here and there while waiting for their induction in
the service.
He suggested that the interviews should be held immediately
after the written examination results and allocations can be announced within 2
weeks or so. "A maximum of 5-6 months should be taken in this procedure and the
training should start. Also the training should be made comprehensive but both
STP and CTP should take a total of 10 months to one year and not more than that.
As we all would agree that on job training is also an effective way of teaching
for the fresh officers for operating procedures.† Also the examination taken in
local schools need attention as this is a very important issue." The News
Your Comments
"The above mentioned analysis is quite correct. To make civil service ucrative, salary package should be increased while efforts should be made to curtail wastage of time. (A css qualified candidate)."
Name: hina pervaiz
Email: hina_pervaiz@yahoo.com
City, Country: lahore, Pakistan
Post your comments
Marketing Fair at COMSATS
Islamabad: The students of Management Sciences department of
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology will hold Marketing Fair-2008 today
(Monday). About 3,500 students of various departments will take part in the
fair. App
Nust inks MoUs with S Korean, Japanese varsities
Rawalpindi: Nust has signed academic agreements with South Korean and
Japanese universities for students exchange programmes and joint research, says
a press release issued here Sunday.
Memorandum of Understandings were
signed by Nust Rector Lt Gen Muhammad Asghar with Hanyang University, South
Korea, Ajou University, South Korea and Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan,
during his recent visit to these institutions.
These agreements cover
wide areas of cooperation, including exchange of students, exchange of faculty
and staff members, joint research and consultancy services, participation in
seminars and academic meetings, exchange of academic material and other
information, and special short academic programs and projects.
The
agreement with Tokyo Institute of Technology includes collaborative research
activities in the field of ADS and establishment of a joint research lab at Nust
under the banner of 'Mori Lab for ADS Research'. The News
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| Education News | | Updated: 25 May, 2012 |
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