THERE is much debate in relevant circles about the age limit for appearing in the Central Superior Services (CSS) exa-mination, with many arguing in favour of increasing it from 30 to 35 years. The fact is that the real problem is not the age limit; it is the broken system that delays, derails and discourages our students long before they even consider applying for a career in the civil services.

Let us begin with some undeniable truths. The average duration of schooling in Pakistan remains less than nine years. Those who manage to make it to higher education, especially in public institutions, often face long and unpredictable delays. In many universities, there are session delays, faculty shortages, thesis bottle-necks, and administrative inefficiencies. By the time one has enough paperwork in hand to fill out and submit a CSS application, at least a year is wasted.

In one of the public-sector universities in Islamabad, final year students recently had to wait for over nine months for their theses to be evaluated. This was only because of supervisor allocation issues and mismanagement.

If education is a journey, the ‘system’ ensures that it is a painfully slow one. Using this argument for CSS age extension shifts the focus away from institutional reforms to individual compensation. Instead of fixing the machine, we are telling its victims to just wait longer.

Besides, the CSS exam is already a highly exclusive funnel. More than 40,000 candidates appear annually, but barely two per cent clear the written portion, and even fewer make it to the final selection.

The exam is heavily skewed towards English proficiency and abstract reasoning. These are the very skills that are rarely nurtured in most Pakistani educational institutions, especially those outside the major cities. Raising the age limit will not magically bridge this preparation gap for students from rural or underserved areas. All the extra years will do is to prolong the anxiety, increase financial strain on families, and encourage youth to postpone meaningful career choices for an uncertain shot at bureaucratic success.

Moreover, this policy unintentionally reinforces the civil service as the ultimate career goal, sidelining other crucial professions. If we want a modern, dynamic and efficient public sector, we must stop pretending that generalists with memorised essays are the best fit for governance in the 21st century.

Reforms, therefore, must go deeper. First, the CSS examination itself must be restructured, and, second, our university system must be held accountable. Raising the age limit is no substitute for raising the standard of opportunity.

Above all, we must correct our cultural obsession with government jobs. As such, a 35-year-old with two master’s degrees, five years of job experience, as well as thousands of hours of test preparation, applying for a grade 17 post with a stagnant salary scale is not ambition; it is systemic failure. Reforms mean fixing what is broken, not merely extending the time people spend in broken systems.

Dr Waseem Abbass
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2025