ISLAMABAD - In a damning revelation, it has been disclosed that a question asked in Pakistan's prestigious exam CSS was copied from Indian Administrative Service (IAS) examinations.
According to a report by Daily Dunya, CSS (Central Superior Services) aspirants were asked to pen down essay on a topic for the year 2017 and surprisingly, it was the same topic asked in Indian administrative service exam (IAS).
The essay topic in CSS English essay paper conducted on January 16 was:
'Is the colonial mentality impeding Pakistan's progress?'
However, the same topic was given to civil service aspirants in India back in 2013, the only difference being the use of the word "India" instead of "Pakistan".
Indian civil service exam (UPSC) Essay paper 2013
In much the same way, questions appearing in FPSC exam on January 8 for Assistant Director Position (Grade 17) were reportedly lifted from Indian and Pakistani educational web portals such as SkillGun.com, Chegg.com, IndiaBIX.com and others.
After investigations, it was also revealed that CSS papers for English Précis & Composition in 2016 had précis taken from a website named (Englishdaily.com). The website is currently down.
It may be mentioned here that FPSC (Federal Public Service Commission) conducts CSS, the crème de la crème exam of Pakistan in which thousands of graduates try their luck to secure a respectable post in the bureaucratic system of Pakistan.
FPSC claims to conduct the examination on the basis of merit intact, and students are also confident in the commission. However, the latest copy-paste incident reveals the sad state of affairs in FPSC as well.
The same English Essay paper haunts aspirants the most due to its arduous nature and in 2016, 98 percent of aspirants failed to pass the paper.
However, if FPSC is not competent enough to devise original questions, students should not be blamed as well for their poor performance as most of them prepare for the original content.
FPSC has yet to clarify or refute the news although it looks impossible to justify this.
