- Dr Bilal says Pakistan’s education system is directionless
The consistent decline in passing percentage of the Central Superior Service (CSS) exam, conducted by the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) has ‘exposed’ the quality of higher education in Pakistan.
Recently, just two percent of candidates could secure minimum passing marks in the CSS 2016 exam, according to the result declared by the Federal Public Service Commission. The current CSS result also pointing out falling standard of the education system.
According to result, 9643 candidates appeared in written examination of the year 2016, out of them only 202 managed to pass the examination. After viva voce, 199 candidates, including 144 male and 85 female, qualified.
Some experts say that one of the main reasons of declining percentage in the CSS exam is that the focus of higher education is more on numbers and less on quality – like the number of institutions, research articles/papers published and of doctoral degree holders. This numbers’ game is multiplied by ‘sub campuses’ of different universities.
Why are public-sector universities not producing big names like Dr Abdus Salam? This is not enough to say that the students are not talented. The talent is there but it’s the education system which is not capable enough to explore and polish these students. The passing percent of the students qualifying in written test has fallen from 9.75 in 2011 to 2.09 in 2016.
This is a fact that no Pakistani university ranks in even top 100 global listings. Perhaps concentrating on fewer but quality universities would have a greater impact than establishing numerous and newer universities and sub-campuses. The number game has to stop once and for all.
It’s also important to know the background of the breakup of 199 successful candidates in a recently-declared result like their subject of specialisation, how many of them attended public or private schools and how many of them appeared for ‘O’ and ‘A’ level examinations. It looks very surprising when the Federal Public Service Commission’s official say that they are not compromising on the quality of education.
When contacted, Dr Saadat Hassan Bilal of the Quaid-e-Azam University said that everyone could imagine the system after the ‘performance’ of the students at the CSS exam level. “Our education system is directionless,” he said, adding that if look at the European education system, they initially direct their students in the education field.
He pointed out that the language barrier was another factor which causes towards this failure. When asked about declining in the pass percentage in CSS exam, FPSC member Ahmad Farooq said that this was because of mushroom growth of the universities. “The number of universities is much more than the number of school coming into being during previous 10 years,” he said.
But “we will not compromise on the quality of education at any level,” he said. When asked only 199 students passed the CSS exam out of 9643 candidates, he said that if even only two students manage to get a chance to succeed, “we will not compromise on the quality of education.” -Bilal Kanjal
