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Recruitment Of Civil Servants PSC Changes Curriculum

By Dr. Niranjan Prasad Upadhyay

PUBLIC Service Commission (PSC) in an independent institution. The need and importance of the Public Service Commission was first recognised immediately after the advent of democratic Government on February 18,1951. It was entrusted with the task of conducting examinations for recruitment to Government posts.

In the years preceding the revolution of 1951 or, more specifically, in the first half of the Rana regime, the desirability of having a Public Service Commission did not intrude into the consciousness of anybody. In those days the top echelon of the civil service was filled with the kith and kin of the then rulers leaving only the petty clerical posts such as Mukhiya, Nausinda and the alike for the recruitment of the people at large (The Public Service Commission: A brief introduction, 1995). Entry to even such positions was limited to the close relatives of the incumbents who had proved their loyalty from generation to generation, or to those fortunate few who had won the favour of the ruling family through sycophancy and toadyism. There were no rules or fixed criteria to govern the recruitment process . At the same time, there was nothing to guarantee the security of tenure. The entire civil service was reviewed from time to time, and each civil servant was reconfirmed, transferred, promoted, or sacked.

In the later years of the autocratic family rule, the need for trained personnel to carry out the administrative functions of the day was felt. This situation pressed them to manage the recruitment procedure. The process of recruitment consisted of four subjects: Accountancy, Laws of the realm, Mathematics and Geography. This system of recruitment was popularly known as Four Tests (Char pass). There was no guarantee, however, that a candidate passing those Four Tests would be automatically taken into the service. Sometime latter, a candidate was required to go through another examination before sitting for the Four Tests, which was officially designated as First Test (Parikshya) and the Four Tests as Secondary Test.

One of the important aspects of personnel management relates to the selection and placement of the candidates who filled up applications on the basis of advertisement. The field of personnel selection probably has received more attention from organisatioal experts. In the administration of the personnel programme, an important function is the matching of individuals to jobs for which they are qualified.

In this course of action the Public Service Commission changed the previous curriculum on the basis of job description. Selecting a candidate effectively requires clear understanding of the nature and the purpose of the position, which is to be filled. An objective analysis of position requirement must be made, and, as far as possible, the job must be designed to meet organisational or individual needs. Having those practical and applied fields of knowledge, the Public Service Commission of Nepal has used job analysis procedure for the new curriculum design. In this connection, the Public Service Commission uses valid and objective types of job description format for collecting various types of information i.e. Job title, purpose, service, location, responsible to, responsible for, key duties, key results area, competencies required for the post, qualification required for the post, tools, working environments, hazards etc.

The Public Service Commission follows basic principles and procedures for recruiting the required numbers of officials to the concerned Ministry. In this regard, it holds three procedures open competition, internal competition and promotion on the basis of performance evaluation. Basically, the Public Service Commission is always trying its best to give efficient and effective manpower to the Government through the process of merit-based selection. Certainly, merit-based selection imparts and helps the newly recruited personnel for delivering effective services to the general public. Merit system is a means for appropriate recruitment process. In the absence of on objective recruitment process, qualified and talented people can’t be tapped. In Nepal, most of the trainings are theoretical. Due to this, the newly recruited personnel fail to deliver effective service to the general public. The Government’s thrust in the Ninth Plan is to provide good governance to the general public. But this is only possible through the imparting of practical and applied field of training to the newly recruited personnel. Journal of the American Psychological Association (1990) has stressed that training can be a positive force for both the individual and the organisation. When the training succeeds, it prepares individuals to take responsibility and thereby insures smooth functioning of the organisation. Training brings hope for persons first entering the world of work or for individuals changing the world of work.

Madhukar, S.J.B. {2000) has stated that the bureaucratic machinery must be founded on merit, must remain free from policital patronage and must be driven by a sense of justice, fair play and efficiency.

The present syllabus is prepared on the basis of numerous exercises, mass communication through news, radio, television, workshop seminar and meetings, opinions sharing with different groups of personalities i.e. top-level Government officers and college students. Those figures have pinpointed various demerits in the prior curriculum i.e. lack of academic subjects, no clear-cut demarcation between general knowledge and social studies papers, lack of elementary test, absence of women’s participation in the examination etc.

Public Service Commission has followed the merit principles for the recruitment of the needy candidates. Due to its own fair characteristics, the general people have good faith and first of all they try to appear the examination of Public Service Commission.

As having the extensive, sound and rigorous exercises, the Public Service Commission introduced open competitive elementary examination curriculum for gazetted third class, Section officer (non-technical) on April 27, 2001. The curriculum covers 4 hours examination time, 200 total marks, eight units and subjective and objective types of questions, and finally it carries 160 and 40 marks respectively. The curriculum covers diversified disciplines i.e. Geography, History and Culture, the Nepalese political system, Administrative system and International agencies, the Nepalese economic aspect, Current affairs and National/International personalities and their ideals.

On the whole, personnel selection through specific curriculum always follows merit and competitive environments. The competitive environment is gaining ground. Since it’s beginning, the Public Service Commission is always trying to review its recruitment systems on the basis of psychological researches. On the other hand, it is very essential to impart practical and applied field of knowledge to the newly recruited personnel at the time of training. Certainly, such types of training courses only meet and fulfill the targeted objectives of personnel selection system.

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