Skip to content
Pakistan Edition Tuesday, September 22, 2026 Live newsroom RSS
Advertisement
22MEDIA INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH

Govt finalises plan for specialised recruitment under civil service reforms

Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday led a multi-party consultative process on the long-awaited civil service reforms, with the government finalising a plan for specialised recruitment through either cluster-based examinations or separate tests for each occupational group.Under the proposed reforms, the CSS examination…

Govt finalises plan for specialised recruitment under civil service reforms
22MEDIA INTERNATIONALWorld Desk
World22MEDIA STORY
Share
IN SHORT

Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday led a multi-party consultative process on the long-awaited civil service reforms, with the government finalising a plan for specialised recruitment through either cluster-based examinations or separate tests for each occupational group.Under the proposed reforms, the CSS examination…

World
22MEDIA REPORTWorld
2 min read

All candidates from the private sector, academia, and government will be eligible to compete.

The percentage of existing positions for NES will be decided by the Prime Minister.

Advertisement

A screening test by FPSC will be followed by a Competency Based Assessment including an interview.

The remaining positions will be filled through promotion on the basis of performance in training and work.

Officers who are superseded twice will be retired at the service of 25 years with all entitled perks.The existing passing threshold in CSS exams may be increased from 33% to 40% without negative marking and may include GRE/SAT styled question to assess analytical and logical reasoning skills.

The unfilled quota seats for Balochistan, Sindh, minorities, and women through affirmative action, e.g., additional attempts, may be allowed.The selection for MCMC/SMC/NMC candidates should be through an exam-based competitive process with up to three attempts to qualify.

Officers who do not qualify after three attempts may be given the option of early retirement.

Advertisement

Training methodology, quality of instructors and curriculum may be enhanced.As much as 50% duration of training reserved for domain-specific knowledge.

In each Grade from BS-17 to BS-20, officers may be required to complete two domain-specific short courses developed by their respective Specialised Training Institutes.Two committees constituted by the prime minister have recommended a complete overhaul of how federal civil servants are recruited, trained, evaluated, promoted and paid.

Consensus was reached on 43 of the 46 recommendations.Ahsan Iqbal said the committee had studied civil service systems in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and the United Kingdom, particularly countries with Commonwealth traditions and parliamentary systems.

He said these comparisons demonstrated that modern public administrations had become considerably more open, specialised and merit-driven.

Govt finalises plan for specialised recruitment under civil service reforms Under the proposed reforms, candidates will have option to take the exam in either English or Urdu.

PUBLISHER22Media International
EDITORIAL STANDARDAccuracy · Corrections · Accountability
COVERAGE DESKWorld
Reader Conversation

Comments & Discussion

Join a respectful, on-topic conversation. Personal attacks, hate speech and spam may be removed.

0comments
22MEDIA COMMUNITY

Join the conversation

Your email will not be published. Required fields are marked.

Up to 5,000 characters

By posting, you agree to our community and moderation guidelines.