- Civil service reform panel divided on specialist recruitment.
- “Prime minister briefed on gap over future of Pakistan's bureaucracy”.
- The reforms propose moving from a generalist CSS system to a specialized one.
The high-level committee for the implementation of civil service reforms is sharply divided over the future shape of Pakistan's bureaucracy: federal ministers strongly support the introduction of a specialized recruitment system, while senior bureaucrats, mostly from the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), resist any major moves away from the existing generalist framework.
Sources familiar with the deliberations said the prime minister has been briefed about the internal rift. If consensus remains elusive, the committee is likely to send two separate and opposing sets of recommendations on civil service induction and recruitment for the prime minister's final decision.
The reform proposals arise from the recommendations of the civil service reforms committee headed by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, which had called for a fundamental restructuring of the Central Higher Services (CSS) examination and recruitment process.
According to the committee's recommendations, which were forwarded by the cabinet to the implementation committee for preparation of an implementation plan for the reforms, the current generalist model should gradually give way to a specialized recruitment system, either through a group-based examination or separate examinations for each occupational group under the CSS framework.
Under the proposed model, candidates would be assessed based on clearly defined academic qualifications and subject relevance, and successful candidates would be directly assigned to specific positions rather than being admitted as generalists.
The recommendations get support from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) report, which proposed aligning optional subjects with the preferences of service groups. For example, topics related to finance for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and criminology for the Pakistan Police Service (PSP).
One of the most debated proposals concerns the language of the exam. The committee has suggested allowing candidates to undertake selected compulsory papers such as Essay, Summary and Composition, Pakistan Studies, Islamiyat and Current Affairs either in English or Urdu during the initial phase.
The proposal is backed by the Federal Public Service Commission's five-year performance report, which identifies English essays and Pakistan Studies as the subjects with the highest failure rate. In the 2022 CSS exam, nearly 99% of candidates failed both exams, raising serious concerns about whether language proficiency has become a barrier to talent selection.
Sources noted that even internationally renowned scholars, including Rhodes and Gates scholars, did not qualify for the CSS exam due to these language limitations.
The committee has further recommended that the option of attempting all CSS subjects in Urdu be eventually introduced. The reform package also proposes to increase the passing threshold of MPT (MCQ-based Preliminary Test) from 33% to 40%, without negative marking. The test may include GRE or SAT style questions to better assess analytical and logical reasoning.
To improve transparency, the committee has recommended developing and publishing objective criteria for written and viva voce examinations, along with qualified psychological and psychometric assessments.
Another key proposal calls for full digitization of the CSS exam process, with the goal of reducing the total hiring cycle to six months or less.
To address persistent shortfalls in provincial and minority quotas (particularly in Balochistan and Sindh), the committee has proposed affirmative measures, including additional attempts for candidates from underrepresented groups.
However, senior PAS officials who are part of the implementation committee, which is also led by Ahsan Iqbal, are opposed to replacing the current Central Allocation System (CAS) and the generalist induction model.
They argue that Pakistan's administrative structure requires officials with broad exposure across sectors, and maintain that the existing system has been time-tested and has ensured administrative cohesion since independence.
Instead of introducing an entirely new specialized bureaucracy, the current system should be refined and strengthened, he said, warning that excessive specialization at the entry level could fragment governance and weaken coordination between ministries.
Ministers are of the view that we need more space for domain knowledge experts in the civil service and better promotion prospects for specialists to attract professionals and specialists in the civil service. Currently, specialized cadres have to wait more than 15 years to be promoted and most retire in grades 19 or 20.
The corporate sector recruits professionals and turns them into generalists as they rise, they said.
Originally published in The News
