THE Federal Public Service Commission system to appoint candidates seeking government jobs in BPS 17 scale is a cause for worry.

Except for the Civil Superior Services examination, the FPSC and the provincial public service commissions have over the years, tailored the competitive examination criteria based entirely on MCQs.

Many deserving aspirants have objections toward this practice because they feel it fails to distinguish between the competent and incompetent, and the amateur and the professional.

One does wonder how the 100 MCQs can determine the capabilities and competence of a candidate. Needless to say, it is a theory-based examination that helps to gauge the true capability and capacity of the candidate, considering that the writing skills of a candidate are more likely to determine a candidate’s competence.

A few months ago, the Sindh Public Service Commission conducted written exams for the post of lecturers, which consisted of only 50 MCQs. This kind of standard makes one question whether a candidate is appearing in an exam or making a gamble for one’s career.

This is a humble request to public service commissions to customise the parameters for the qualification of competitive examinations to identify and select the cream of qualified candidates. It would be in the better interest of academic and competitive equilibrium.

Riaz Ahmed

Sukkur

Published in Dawn, August 31, 2014