THE Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission (KPPSC) recently conducted a screening test for the Provincial Management Service (PMS) to select candidates for the written part of the examination. As the result has been declared, the tentative marks for all the five zones were kept so high that many talented students could not qualify the test. Why? This time, only one candidate among 25 will be considered good enough to sit the written part of the test. Why?

Similarly, due to high merit, the lowest tentative marks are 66 for zone V and the highest are 70 marks for zone I. In the past, it used to be 40 per cent marks to pass the test and sit the written examinations. The PMS ‘screening test’ marks were reduced to 20pc in 2018 due to serious reservations of the candidates. The Central Superior Services (CSS) and PMS are the competitive examinations which determine the critical, analytical as well as writing skills of the applicants. Also, after passing the examinations, they are considered a ‘think tank’ of sorts within the government machinery.

However, it is a sheer injustice to gauge one’s talent through tests that do not need any critical thinking; just cramming a lot of information, such as names of capital cities, currencies, dates, rivers, etc. Also, many students who are good at rote learning buy several ‘guide books’ before the test to qualify the examination.

As a government officer, I have noticed that the majority of employees selected on the basis of the results of papers having multiple choice questions (MCQs) cannot write a single paragraph correctly. How can one be judged on the basis of MCQs when one is excellent in critical, analytical and writing skills? Several talented students leave the country owing to lack of jobs and the government must stop this brain drain. The KPPSC should decrease the tentative marks to 40-50pc so that talented students who are really good at analytical skills may be able to appear in written examinations.

Name withheld on request
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2021