Historically, the British following the establishment of British Rule introduced, for the first time, the Civil Services Exam in the Subcontinent.
Took control of the government the British focused on establishing institutions. Over time, Civil Service emerged in the Subcontinent as an administrative body.
Newly recruited officers across the Subcontinent were sent to England for training for one or two years to make them compatible with British standards.
Subsequently, the era became the era of Civil Service because the British ruled Consolidated India through the institution of bureaucracy. The Bureaucrats were given unlimited powers and authority to control the local population.
After the partition in 1947, both India and Pakistan continued the legacy of the colonial empire in the shape of Civil Service.
They renamed it however its structure remained as it had been in the colonial era. Pakistan reorganized and reestablished its civil service following the adoption of the new constitution of 1973. The Civil Services Academy was rebuilt and separated services were integrated.
A new Consolidated Common Training Program was initiated. To date, the system is still working as it was established in the colonial era.
The reform proposal has been represented by veteran scholars, though no government bothered to open the plethora of proposals.
In the incumbent structure, the Civil Service has twelve different occupational groups. One is allocated to a group based on the merit formula. The Civil Services Exam called Central Superior Service AKA CSS is conducted every year.
A large number of candidates appear in the exam every year, although, its passing ratio has been very low Consequently. English Essay haunts the majority of candidates each year.
Another chapter of the Civil Service is the Provincial Civil Services. It works like the central Civil Service in Provincial domains.
The PMS or PCS exams are conducted every year or in two or three years. PMS or PCS officers work in the field as assistant commissioners and section officers in the Civil Secretariat of respective provinces.
It has been a top priority among the rest of the careers among graduates, additionally, it is considered a lucrative job with many perks and privileges coupled with social recognition.
Good was the time when people considered it only a choice of career. The whole nation never dreamed of becoming Babu. Along with the Civil Service, People were choosing and pursuing medical fields, businesses, law, and journalism as their careers.
The era blessed Pakistan with good doctors, businessmen, law counselors, and journalists who brightened the country’s name and made exemplary accomplishments in their respective fields. There had been a need for career counseling nonetheless people were aware of the interests they had in choosing careers.
At that time the country was making progress and its institutions were working smoothly.
The only motto of the Civil Service was to serve the people. The institutional downfall started in the twenties when the digital media revolution emerged and it gave humans new tools for thinking.
Further, social media fuelled it more when a culture of the protocol was glorified. The blue light on the vehicle started fascinating the youth.
They dreamed of having such perks and protocols. At the time, New Universities were established across Pakistan that produced a large number of graduates every year. As a result, an influx of new graduates moved to the job market.
Unlike polishing their skills and getting professional expertise, they started looking for government jobs. No government job was better than that of Civil Service. So almost every graduate either from a science background or arts, even a professional degree holder e.g. medical, engineering, law, business, and journalism instead of pursuing one’s career started dreaming of becoming a civil servant.
Resulting in, a new class of Civil servants landed into society who, if called, were non-professionals and unaware of their jobs.
It is not difficult to judge their credibility and efficiency. Ironically, Medical graduates are collecting taxes, engineers are serving in post offices, and law and business graduates are serving in groups like information and office management groups.
It was the worst of times and eventually, the state apparatus started crumbling. The institutional framework was destroyed and the Civil Services transformed into the ‘Afsar Shahi’.
Like civil service, the rest of the fields have also been affected by the behavior of the graduates of their respective fields. They left their fields to move to another field which widened the gaps of experts in the fields.
The CSS coaching academies play a negative role in glorifying the Civil Service by advertising and publicity candidates who once were students and passed the exam.
Consequently, a career choice became a matter of choice career at the cost of infertility of experts in the rest of the fields and careers.
Collectively, nations can only make progress by producing experts in every field of life. Japan, Norway, Finland, and India are examples.
Japan advanced in technology because it trained its engineers to work in their field. Sweden, Germany, and the USA have advanced health systems only due to the experts in the medical field. India surpassed 263 billion US dollars in revenue from the IT industry and IT engineers are behind this outstanding achievement.
Pakistan also can make progress by producing experts and professionals in every field.
A big responsibility and obligation lie on the shoulders of the government. It must reform civil service as a top priority so that only experts in the respective fields may join the service according to their fields. The government should focus on the professional and skill-based training of the graduates so that they can work in their respective fields.
Last but not least, it is the responsibility of the government, and it must recognize this responsibility, to provide career guidance and counseling to the students at the school level.
The youth of Pakistan should realize that in the current century, there are numerous opportunities in several fields and there are many career choices. They must think about that instead of sticking themselves only to the Civil Service.
This is the only way to save the state institutions and make them work smoothly and professionally.