The government has decided to reduce the age limit for the Central Superior Services (CSS) examinations from 30 years to 28 years, whereas the age limit for government employees has also been reduced from 32 years to 28 years, a local news outlet reported on Wednesday.
According to reports, CSS would be renamed Central Services of Pakistan and the difference between social science and pure science candidates would also be reduced. The government has also suggested the inclusion of the percentile score system to provide equal opportunities to students while removing quota for candidates from backward areas, the report added.
CSS age limit to be reduced by two years https://t.co/OvLk3I7fCR pic.twitter.com/T3CUQzeYJ8
— GNN (@gnnhdofficial) December 4, 2019
It has been proposed to set the special quota on the basis of the educational background rather than just the domicile.
Some candidates did not appreciate the idea for several reasons.
Sir @ImranKhanPTI you are new hope for the youth, kindly css age limit should be 30 instead of 28. Because this is the equal opportunity plateform for every pakistani.Majority students are financially supporting their families with studies how they can prepare css within 28 as vl pic.twitter.com/AL7L8NBHGt
— Sedrah Khan (@Sidrah82143072) December 4, 2019
Analysts believe that a great number of students appear in the CSS Exam which needed a comprehensive framework in order to organized everything. For that matter, the government has decided to reduce the number of students which shall be helpful to focus on the papers of those who appear in the exam.
CSS Academies
Anwar Ali recently wrote an opinion piece for Global Village Space and discussed at length the role of CSS academies in mega cities of Pakistan. He pointed out that “coaching academies are business ventures and not knowledge dispensers. Except one or two, all academies are run by businessmen who invest money for a higher return”.
Moreover, he noted that “the owners are incapable of delivering a lecture on any subject except for talking boastfully of the earlier success of the academy. Low paid teachers are hired to save expenses. Even former CSS candidates are invited to teach subjects from their notes (which they had jotted down when they were learning the subject as students). Low-quality teaching delivers low-quality knowledge.
Read more: Coaching Academies: Destroying The Capabilities Of CSS Aspirants
Some academies have on their payroll serving civil servants mostly of the Pakistan Administrative Service, the Police Service, and the Office Management Group”.
“These academies endorse low-cost books churned out by Urdu bazar publishers, instead of promoting the FPSC’s recommended books. The scenario is grave because each academy offers a composite course of about five months for Rupees 60,000 to 80,000 per head. Parents are hoodwinked and children are deceived into believing that low-quality books are easy to understand and the knowledge therein is easy to reproduce in the examination to earn high marks,”, he added.
The decision of lowering the age limit for appearing in CSS exam is doing the rounds in news lately. This is by far the most unpopular and detestable decisions by the current government. It will impact the major electoral segment of youth which voted for PTI. @ImranKhanPTI
— Aijaz (@Aijazzardari1) December 4, 2019
Finally, Mr. Ali concluded, saying “coaching academies broadcast a contrived sense of achievement. A series of mock interviews is held for all those who pass the written examination. Pictures of such candidates are captured and, when some of them secure positions on the final-result list, their pictures are advertised in newspapers and displayed at the reception desk to befool the viewers by giving the impression as if the successful candidates had received the coaching of written examination from the same academy”.