FPSC Expresses Concerns Over Declining Standard Of Education

The report reveals that the candidates qualified from foreign universities lagged far behind from the candidates of the local universities in allocation of seats in annual CSS exams in 2019.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Sept 7^th, 2021) The Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), in its latest report, on Tuesday expressed serious concerns over declining standard of education, recommending the measures and policies to the government to improve it.

The report said that 14,521 candidates from local and international universities appeared for the CSS exams in 2019 and 372 students could pass the exam and only 214 were allocated posts in Pakistan Civil Services.

The report also showed that the candidates from 77 public universities, 61 private and 40 foreign universities, appeared in the 2019 exam and only 4% of the allocations were made for foreign university candidates out of the total selections. FPSC said that 73% of the total allocations were made for public university candidates while 23% were given jobs from private universities of Pakistan.

In 2019 and 2018, a total of 27 candidates from the Punjab University were allocated posts in the civil services. FPSC reported that LUMS, Lahore, was second for allocation of candidates in the 2019 exam. At least 24 candidates out of total 182 from LUMS were allocated posts in the civil services in 2019. The third position was of UET as its students were allocated 18 posts followed by NUST with 16 allocations.

The reports revealed that the candidates from top foreign universities who took part in 2019 exams failed to pass the exam and remained behind even from the students of the local universities. As many as 22 candidates from Cambridge University, UK, appeared for the 2019 exam and all of them failed.

In 2018, 12 candidates had participated from the same university and only one managed to pass the exam. Only one candidate, out of 66, from University of London was allocated a post in the civil services in 2019. One candidate from Oxford Brookes University (UK), one from Georgetown University (USA) and one from University of Warwick (UK) were allocated jobs out of dozens who appeared for the exam in the same year.

The report revealed that decline in the standard of education was the major reason. It said, “there is an increasing trend of reliance on substandard material and guide books rather than original material, research and creative thinking. It requires intense research, analysis and a comprehensive plan to focus on qualitative improvement in education at all levels,”.

It also revealed that concrete measures were needed to enhance the quality of education and language proficiency of the candidates. The commission also invited the attention of policymakers to taking appropriate measures so that minorities and women take full advantage of the seats reserved for them.

The report also revealed that not even a single candidate from University of Birmingham (UK), London school of Economics and Political Science, Kings College (London), Imperial College (London), Glasgow Caledonian University (Scotland), University of Huddersfield (England), Cornell University (USA), Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), Denison University (USA), Queen Mary University London, University of Bradford (UK) and University of Manchester (UK) could pass the exams.