ACCORDING to a recent vacancy announcement by the Federal Public Service Commission , there are 27 vacancies of Civil Superior Services quota lying vacant. This year less than a dozen candidates qualified the written part of this prestigious exam, meaning that 20 more seats will still remain vacant for the next year. This is the grave situation of a province already lacking representation in the federal bureaucracy.

There are many reasons for this state of affairs, English being one of them. According to the FPSC report, 98 per cent of candidates fail in this subject as there are no quality institutions in Balochistan which can help students polish their written skills.

The examination pattern of the Balochistan Public Service Commission for the provincial bureaucracy is totally different from that of the FPSC. This makes life harder for CSS aspirants as they have to prepare for two different types of exams

This is a problem that all stakeholders viz educational institutions, the BPSC, and aspiring candidates need to give due consideration to. The universities must ensure specially focused classes for graduates, while the BPSC must design its exam in line with that of the FPSC. In this manner the BPSC competitive exam will serve as virtual training for FPSC candidates.

Rashid Hussain

Quetta

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2018