‘Almost 98pc of CSS candidates failed exam last year’

The annual percentage of successful candidates who take the Central Superior Services (CSS) exam has been decreasing drastically. The passing percentage of the candidates in the written examination was 30 percent in 2002.

In 2016, that figure dropped to a meagre 2.09 percent as of the 9,643 candidates who appeared for the CSS test, only 202 passed. This was the lowest percentage of successful students since 2011. Since colonial times, the civil service has retained the prestige that comes with joining the country’s bureaucratic machine. Thousands of Pakistanis apply to join the civil service every year.

These views were expressed by Karachi University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan at the inauguration ceremony of the CSS Preparatory Classes-2017 at the Faculty of Social Sciences, KU, on Tuesday.

Dr Khan said the disappointing results indicated the need to prepare the CSS aspirants while ensuring quality education. “The KU is recognised worldwide for its academic and research activities and therefore we are having this programme organised by the University of Karachi.

“Candidates from Sindh, and in particular Karachi, have been decreasing in the CSS, leaving more and more positions vacant. In 2010 and 2011, there were 35 and 21 unfilled positions in the urban Sindh quota respectively, as fewer candidates apply for the exam, preferring potentially higher pay in the private sector.”

The dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, KU, Professor Dr Muhammad Ahmed Qadri, lamented the fact that according to the report submitted in the parliament, a total of 71 seats remained unfilled in 2013 as compared to 30 seats in 2012 and 45 in 2011. 

He mentioned that in 2012, the government could only fill 240 posts out of 285 positions that were available to candidates which was ironic. “The higher education institutions should train our youths for the most prestigious career.”

Dr Qadri called for launching community development programme for the youth to engage them in the welfare of society.