Why does Pakistan still choose some of its most powerful government officers through a system designed for the colonial age?

The CSS examination was introduced to create a competent and merit-based civil service. But today, it has become a remarkably narrow gateway to government. Every year, tens of thousands of young people spend months or even years preparing for one extremely difficult examination, while only a tiny fraction make it through.

Passing CSS certainly requires intelligence, hard work and determination. But being good at an examination is not the same thing as being good at running a government.

This is where the system needs serious rethinking.

Pakistan today needs experts in economics, technology, health, education, climate change, artificial intelligence, finance, agriculture and many other fields. Yet our traditional system tends to produce generalist officers who can be moved from one department to another, regardless of their specialised knowledge.

Why should an IT expert, economist, engineer or experienced business professional have to compete in a general examination to enter government—and then possibly spend a career being told where to work?

We should not abolish merit. We should abolish the idea that CSS is the only meaningful route to merit.

Let there be competitive examinations for administrative positions. But let ministries also recruit specialists directly through transparent, competitive processes. Let experienced professionals from universities, business and the development sector enter government through properly regulated lateral recruitment.

Most importantly, promotion should depend on performance, competence and integrity—not simply seniority and the fact that someone once passed an examination.

The CSS system may have served colonial India well. But Pakistan is no longer a colonial administration. We are living in an age of technology, specialised knowledge and rapid change.

Pakistan does not need fewer capable people in government. It needs a system that can find capable people wherever they are.

Perhaps it is time to stop asking how we can improve the CSS—and start asking whether we need the CSS in its present form at all. .. CN report, 28 Aug 2026