In 2014, 3.33 percent of the total number passed. In 2015, 3.11 percent of the
total number passed. In 2016, 2.09 percent of the total number passed. In 2017, 3.03 percent of the total number passed. In 2018, 4.17 percent of the total number passed. These are the results of the Central Superior Services examination given by the Federal Public Service Commission. As per the FPSC, the total number of candidates for the 2018 CSS examination was 11,887, and the number of candidates who managed to pass the written part of the examination was 569. In 2017, those who appeared in the examination: 9,391. Those who cleared the examination: 312.
In 2016, 92 per cent failed English. Take a moment or two to let that sink in. 92 per cent failed English.
To say that the situation is dismal is understating the horror of education in Pakistan.
On May 13, 2019, the Senate passed a Jamaat-i-Islami Ameer Siraj-ul-Haq-moved resolution to give candidates appearing in the CSS examination the option to take the examination in the language of their choice: Urdu or English. The resolution has elicited a mixed reaction that is only to be expected in a country where even though the Article 251 of the Constitution has a clear directive to make Urdu Pakistan’s official language, English is the language that is used in most official and governmental matters. Changing the medium from English to Urdu in CSS examination that is considered by young people of all educational and financial backgrounds the most reliable and transparent path for achievement of a solid governmental job is not a bad idea looking at the educational reality of Pakistan. It of course comes with a peculiar caveat.
A large number of school and college students belonging to the low-income stratum of society have a consistent challenge of mastering or even simply achieving a relatively good grasp of the English language. This handicap has little or nothing to do with their mental and intellectual capabilities but everything to do with the limited educational choices their material status allows them. There are myriad factors: learning English at middle school level, mother tongue acting as an impediment to become fluent in English despite knowledge of the basic rules of the language, growing up in an environment with little or no school or college-imparted education, inability of illiterate or semi-literate parents to help in school or college work. Hard work and dedication of students meet constant roadblocks simply because of their insufficient proficiency of English. What needs to change is the entire educational system. That feat is arduous, complex and long but in no way impossible.
CSS examinations in all may be taken in either Urdu or English, but there are two subjects that cannot be taken in any language other than English, the one international language whose knowledge is essential to be able to conduct personal and professional activities in most parts of the world: English Essay and English Précis and Comprehension. In an examination in which most candidates fail to achieve a good percentage in English, the option of Urdu as the language of preparation and taking of examination may open a new window of opportunity for all those who cannot go far because of their poor knowledge of English. But it would also be a whole new way of allowing aspirants of high governmental positions through CSS to become even more lackadaisical about solid attainment if not a comprehensive educational mastery of the English language that is needed for attainment of a certain level of professional distinction and advancement. It would indeed be a predicament eerily similar to the present one. *