New CSS officers lack ‘academic qualifications’

A review of academic qualifications of civil servants inducted through the Central Superior Services (CSS) examination between 2021 and 2024 has revealed a persistent mismatch between their educational backgrounds and professional requirements of the service groups they had been assigned to, said a report.

- Tariq Butt

The data - compiled from bureaucrats’ qualification records - covers officers inducted into the Inland Revenue Service (IRS), Pakistan Audit & Accounts Service (PAAS) and Information Group, and highlights structural weaknesses in Pakistan's generalist recruitment model.

According to the data, which was discussed and reviewed by the Civil Service Reforms Committee, the vast majority of officers posted to these technically specialised groups do not possess academic qualifications directly relevant to the core functions of their respective services.