Private school students shine in CSS 2021 exam

ISLAMABAD: Most of the successful candidates in CSS 2021 exams received early education in the private schools, which raised the question mark on the performance of the public sector schools.

According to Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) annual report 2021, a total of 34 percent of the total qualified candidates came from private schools of the country, 15 percent from forces/ garrisons schools, 14 percent from public schools and 5 percent from schools abroad.

The total candidates participating in CSS exams from 2017 to 2021 grew exponentially from 23000 applicants in 2017 to almost 40,000 in 2021. In all these years, the qualified male participants were 62 percent while the rest were female qualified candidates.

Further, the annual report available with this scribe reveals that most of the appearing candidates who qualified the CSS exam of 2021 were aged from 25 to 27. Interestingly, most of the candidates who qualified the CSS 2021 exams held master’s degree followed by engineering’s degree and bachelor’s degree.

As many as 149,718 candidates applied for the CSS examination in the last five years from 2017 to 2021. Out of which, 100,095 were males and 49,623 were females. However, only 72,455 candidates — 46,623 males and 25,832 females - appeared in the CSS exam. Of this, 1,955 candidates qualified the exam and 1,174 were finally allocated with different posts.

The gender-wise break up reveals that 62 percent of male candidates and 38 percent of female candidates qualified the exam with 61 percent of male allocation and 39 percent of female allocation for posts across the country.

The pattern of participating candidates in CSS exam from 2017 to 2021 reflects a constant increase in every passing year. The total number of candidates rose from 23,025 in 2017 to 39,650 in 2021. The participation of female and male candidates increased to 50 percent and 40 percent respectively.

The highest number of candidates who appeared in the CSS competitive examination 2021 belonged to the age bracket of 27 to 29. However, the maximum number of successful candidates fell in the age bracket of 25 to 27.

The performance of first division holders was far better than the rest of the candidates, as 91 percent of successful candidates appeared in the CSS exam 2021 with first division while only 9 percent of the successful candidates appeared in the competitive exam with the second division.

Interestingly, the greatest number of qualified candidates’ fathers were graduates. The data further indicates that out of the allocated candidates under CSS CE-2021, 03 percent held M.Phil degree, 34 pc master’s degree, 25 pc engineering’s degree, 13pc bachelor’s degrees and 11pc medical degree.