4/11/2019 Time to reform the civil services - Daily Times

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Time to reform the civil services

(More Articles by Mashhood Hassan Azam Awan) Mashhood 29
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Azam Awan)
APRIL 10, 2019

Why are the youth today generally pessimistic about their future? Is
all this talk about merit being the sole consideration a hollow
political slogan? Why is the governance at what appears to be the
lowest ebb? Why do the youth doubt that Pakistan can ever become
a great nation?

In a public speech, Prime Minister Imran Khan is reported to have

said that the reason why the nation did fairly well in the 1960s was
that it had a capable, merit-based and honest bureaucracy. What
caused the loss of pride over the last four decades is a million dollar
question. The answer has to be multi-faceted: i) the bureaucracy
has become highly politicised and inef icient; ii) the recruitment
process in all government departments, including the CSS and the
PMS, is not seen to be merit-oriented; and iii) educational
institutions have become money-making plants.

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4/11/2019 Time to reform the civil services - Daily Times

The prime minister has constituted a task force to reform the civil
services. Its irst duty is to diagnose the root causes of
deterioration. The causes might include the lack of an education
system that comes up to international standards. The educational
institutions do not cultivate critical thinking, innovative attitudes or
problem solving skills. The examination system is lawed. It favour
those who reproduce crammed material often without
understanding the concepts. This allows below-average students to
gain civil service jobs ahead of better graduates. Being incompetent,
they are vulnerable to political pressures and extraneous
considerations and often exhibit an apathy towards public. No
public sector institution is immune from the malaise.

“
„

The civil service system is celebrated as a

great political invention. The impact it can
have on the public welfare is directly linked to
the performance of those assigned the tasks.
Their integrity and skills are a matter of great
concern

The situation calls for radical measures akin to major surgery. The
reforms need to be started at the grassroots level. Capable, honest,
God-fearing, merit-based and public-friendly recruits are needed in
all sectors. The Indian Civil Service was created by the British at a
time when there was no great educational system in place in the
sub-continent. Today, there is a pressing need for a common
syllabus of international standard, to be taught at all public and
private schools and colleges. A robust education policy is therefore
needed foremost.

We also need to say good-bye to the outmoded system of selection

to civil services. Let the Federal Public Service Commission and the
Provincial Public Service Commissions be given fresh statutory
mandates to select personnel through talent hunt programmes so
that the most brilliant candidates from amongst the educated youth
are brought forward to serve the country. The stereotyped
examination system for recruitment to civil services has outlived its
utility.

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4/11/2019 Time to reform the civil services - Daily Times

Recruitment examinations for federal as well as provincial services

should be subject-oriented. For every job, the candidate must be
examined in the relevant ield. In case of Pakistan Administrative
Services, the candidates should be examined in disciplines like
public administration, sociology, governance and public policy.

All promotions to the next grade should be linked to performance

evaluation, intellectual growth, in-service trainings and higher
education in the relevant ield. The training courses should be
designed to inculcate creativity, innovation, understanding and use
of modern methods to solve complex problems and handle uneasy
situations.

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Private sector institutions have been more successful because they

pick the best talent and job security is closely linked to performance
and specialised knowledge. Public bureaucracy meanwhile seems to
banks on stereotyped question-answer system of examinations for
selection, having no relevance to jobs like district management,
customs, taxation, commerce, of ice management and policing.

The recruitment and training system needs to be scrapped and

rebuilt from scratch. The process has to be gradual and requires
appropriate statutory measures, rule-making and administrative
actions to improve the education and managerial monitoring
systems at every step.

The civil service system is celebrated as a great political invention.

The impact it can have on the public welfare is directly linked to the
performance of those assigned the tasks. Their integrity and skills
are a matter of great concern

The idea is to develop a loyal and ef icient civil service to serve the
public. The government should also consider raising salaries of civil
servants in accordance with their market value and responsibilities
entrusted to them; ii) linking annual increments to performance; iii)

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4/11/2019 Time to reform the civil services - Daily Times

abolishing automatic promotions; iv) linking security of tenure and

promotion to performance; and v) setting up a body dedicated to
monitoring the performance of every department and its of icers.

The writer is a lawyer

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