World Bank For Raising Central Superial Service Educational Level

Islamabad, Apr 02: With elected public representatives need not have any education, the World Bank (WB) and a number of would-be bureaucrats strongly want the future civil servants in Pakistan to carry a Master's degree as their basic qualification.


Not only the WB but also the candidates have floated almost similar kind of proposals to set minimum required education to masters level for the Central Superior Service (CSS) examinations, well-placed official sources said here on Thursday.

When contacted for comments, Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) Chairman Justice (Retd) Rana Bhagwandas confirmed that the candidates do desire an increase in the education standard for the future CSS hopefuls.

"But I have no knowledge whether a World Bank proposal is also there as it may be a development prior to my assuming the position," the FPSC chairman responded to a query. Rana Bhagwandas maintained that neither the proposal had been discussed at the commission platform nor it was being under active consideration at present. "Therefore, you can say that there is no as such substance in it."

The FPSC chairman is engaged in conducting interviews of those successful candidates who qualified the written examinations in the CSS 2009. It is a suggestion on part of the candidates whom the commission is interviewing these days.

The FPSC sources insisted that there was a pending WB proposal and said that the same could be discussed at the next meeting of the full commission, all members, chairman and the secretary to accept or reject the new arrangements.

The age limit for the CSS aspirants, these sources said, would be increased at least by two years, bringing it to 30 years from the present 28 years for the fresh postgraduate degree possessors.

At present, the age restriction for the regular government employees, wishing to attempt the CSS, is 30 years and the new one would be 32 years in order to accommodate them in view of being in the service.

While explaining the process, they said that the proposals would be discussed first at the platform of the commission and then, if approved, would go before the Establishment Division and finally to the prime minister for an approval.

To another query, the sources within the commission said that the FPSC would have to make public at least two years before implementing the new mechanism. It would done thru be massive advertisements in the national newspapers in the two-year time. The news