THIS piece is intended mainly to endorse the views of Kamal Uddin Ahmed expressed in his article under the heading “Quota system for civil service” published in the Daily Star on July 18, and also to add some of my own views on the subject.
It is ridiculous that merit gets a share of only 45% of those recruited for the civil service through competitive examinations conducted by the Public Service Commission (PSC). It is not understandable how, in today’s society, 55% of jobs in civil service are still kept reserved for candidates under different categories of quotas. There is a provision of 10% quota for women, who constitute half of the country’s population.
The working paper on quota system for civil service recruitment, prepared by the chairperson of the Regulatory Reforms Commission Dr. Akbar Ali Khan and former secretary Kazi Raquibuddin Ahmed, recommended raising women’s quota to 15%. I am opposed to this idea as, with the passage of time, females have been performing well in different fields of education. I am not quite sure whether women themselves would fully support the proposal as, in some cases, their performance is even better than their male counterparts.
Professor Kamaluddin Ahmed, however, wanted to justify his arguments for retaining 10% quota for women. He has, at the same time, given some statistics of advancement of female education in recent years. The article said that nearly half of the students of Dhaka University were females, and in 2007 more than 26% of the teachers were women. These statistics give us the impression that even the abolition of women’s quota will not stand in way of their advancement in different fields.
There have been movements by students in favour of recruitment in the civil service on the basis of merit. Merit, as we understand, gets the top priority in recruitment in civil service in most countries of the world. I really do not find any logic or reason behind ignoring merit in recruitment.
We understand from discussions with relevant people that there is a dearth of qualified people incivil administration. The shortage of qualified people in the civil service can be attributed to brain drain on the one hand and lucrative job offers by some private companies on the other.
Some people, even after qualifying for the administrative cadre, opt for jobs in banks, financial institutions and private companies as they are offered lucrative pay packages.
The suggestion for reduction of quota for freedom fighters’ children is, indeed, a good idea because the writer has rightly said that the freedom fighters did not fight to obtain special privileges/rewards from the state. The quota for freedom fighters remained unfulfilled during the past decades due to non-availability of qualified candidates, it may be pointed out.
Civil servants everywhere in the world are recruited through public examinations, free from any sort of political or external influences. Merit gets the highest consideration regarding recruitment and promotion in civil service. I find no reason why it should not be followed in our country too.
The quota system was introduced by an executive order prior to the adoption of the constitution on September 5, 1972, taking into consideration different socio-economic factors that no longer exist.
The quota system needs to be updated through necessary reforms for improvement of the recruitment process, so that quality people can be attracted to civil service. If the civil service is not properly equipped with quality people, it would be difficult for us to compete with other countries across the table for negotiation on issues of bilateral or multilateral interests.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Establishment Ministry discussed the issue on April 5, 2005 and proposed reduction in the quota system. Accordingly, the above mentioned working paper on quota system was prepared.
The working paper on the quota system argued in favour of revision and rationalisation of the system, suiting the changed situation. It is known to us that the PSC could hardly work independently during the last couple of decades due mainly to political interference. Candidates seeking job through PSC had to even grease the palms of a section of top bosses of PSC. Some former PSC members are now on the run on charges of corruption. Many stories of irregularities and corruption of a section of PSC top people came out in the press, to the surprise of the saner section of society.
It is time to ponder over reform of the quota system so that merit and only merit gets top priority in recruitment. In my opinion, merit should get at least 80% share of all recruitments in civil service, and people with integrity should get the responsibility of conducting recruitment. Stern punitive action has to be taken against anyone in the PSC if he/she is involved in any sort of irregularity.
The image of the PSC has to be restored, and it is hoped that the present administration will do the needful so that those seeking jobs in civil service can have total confidence in the system and in the institution. There is also need for proper pay packages in civil service so that quality people increasingly opt for the service.
Nurul Huda is a Special Correspondent of BSS.
Popularity: 2% [?]
