THE Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) is a prestigious and credible testing agency responsible for recruiting bureaucrats and other government servants in BPS-16 and above. It has always upheld merit and transparency during the recruitment process. However, the commission has been gradually losing its credibility due to certain flaws.

First, it is because of the rather long recruitment process. The complete recruitment process of FPSC on average takes two whole years or even more. One can easily estimate the long recruitment period by simply visiting FPSC website and clicking the ‘recommendations’ section where all dates from advertisement until the final selection of candidates are clearly mentioned. This delay is highly discouraging for many candidates.

Second, and the most recent flaw that pertains to FPSC, is not following the prescribed syllabus and the issuance of certain wrong answer keys in the recent screening tests held for the posts in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) carrying Case Nos. F.4.140/2021.R and F.4.148/2021.R. Many candidates complain that extremely tough questions from chemistry were included in the Everyday Science portion, which is a total violation of the syllabus and against the basic rights of the candidates.

They further observe that only a few questions were included from the Islamiat section, while it carries 10 per cent weightage as per the syllabus.

A majority of candidates claim that the FPSC provided wrong answer keys for 12 questions in the English portion, and a few questions in the Math portion, in the IB screening test for batch three, and wrong answer keys for 10 questions in the English portion and seven in the Math portion for batch four.

Many candidates claim that several other answer keys were wrong in General Knowledge and Current Affairs sections. They argue that they can justify their claims if original question papers are provided to them for solution in the presence of independent subject specialists or examiners.

They demand that the answer keys should be prepared by independent subject specialists so that the wrong answer keys, provided by the FPSC already, be identified and rectified.

The candidates have already raised this issue with the FPSC. Their grievances should be addressed without delay in order to revive their trust in the Commission.

Muhsin Khan
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2022