A better BCS exam can create better students, job seekers

The Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC) can bring about a big change in our job market by simply changing the syllabus of the The Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) preliminary exam. If the exam is brought up to international standards, it can make job seekers more competitive in general, even if they don't necessarily secure a government job.

The history of civil service goes a long way back. China was the first country in the world during the Sui Dynasty (561-618 AD) to start the journey of merit-based Imperial Civil Service test, and later, it was imitated in many other countries of East Asia. 

In 600-700 AD, Japan adopted the merit-based civil service test method in the style of the Chinese system. Similarly, Korea and Vietnam adopted this Chinese model in the tenth century and eleventh century respectively. 

The journey of the civil service in many other countries of the world, including Europe, started much later than that of the Chinese Imperial Civil Service. The civil service in the Indian subcontinent began after 1850. A civil service commission was established in London in 1854, and the first competitive examination was held in 1855.

A Review of the examination system of the civil service reveals that China, the pioneer in civil service, introduced a system which was unique in terms of standards at that time. The test method of the Chinese Imperial Civil Service was changed to different models during the reign of different dynasties, but they remained consistent in terms of qualitative aspects, which included questions in social relations, history, analytics, and administrative issues of Confucius classics. 

The imperial civil service exam was discontinued in 1906 in a variety of social and political contexts during the last Qing Dynasty. The subsequent Chinese Republican regime and later the Communist regime did not have a civil service, until the 1980s. Later, in 1994, China introduced the present Chinese Civil Service examination system for recruiting to different vacant posts. 

According to one statistic, in 2016, about 1.4 million job seekers applied for 27,071 positions in the civil service. CNN made a piece of news in 2016 about the quality and level of difficulty of the test questions with the headline: "Could you pass China's grueling, 5-hour civil service exam?" 

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) of India is responsible for the selection of the members of civil services in India. The 2021 examination syllabus of the UPSC shows that the preliminary examination is over 400 marks and candidates have to complete it in four hours. For the first 200 marks, tests are taken on various subjects including general knowledge, history, science, technology, environment, and for the remaining 200 marks, tests are taken on general math, learning skills, reasoning and mental skills, and data analysis. 

The type of questions used in the preliminary exam are considered to be of international standard, and a candidate who passes this exam successfully is supposed to be able to pass any standardised exam. 

On the other hand, the syllabus of the 43rd BCS Preliminary Examination reveals that an MCQ exam of 200 marks is taken in two hours, and out of these 200 marks, 170 marks are allocated to Bengali, English, general knowledge, science, technology, history, and other subjects and only 30 marks are on mathematical reasoning and mental skills. 

Where 200 marks are allocated in the Indian Civil Service Examination for Mathematical Reasoning, Mental Skills and Data Analysis, only 30 marks are allocated in the Bangladesh Civil Service. Besides, an exam of 400 marks is taken in India in four hours and Bangladesh is taking a 200 marks exam in two hours.

In 2019, the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC), the authority selecting civil service officials in Bangladesh, issued an advertisement to recruit 2,166 people, through the 41st BCS exam. Some more than 404,000 candidates applied for this exam. Excluding professional posts in engineering, agriculture, and medicine, the total number of general cadre posts in this BCS stands at 742. 

The number of candidates vying for these small numbers of positions is extremely high. Suchn extreme scenario prevails in India as well where about 1,056,000 candidates participated against 696 posts of general categories in 2020. A similar scenario prevails in China as well. 

But what we can see is that China and India can send a lot of young graduates to many American universities for higher studies. The number of students who entered from China to the United States in 2019-20 alone is about 362,000, and this number is about 200,200 for India in 2019. On the other hand, the number of students who went to the United States from Bangladesh in 2019-20 is only 8,800. 

Undoubtedly, China and India are ahead of Bangladesh in terms of comparative education, economy, and size. Even after those comparative advantages, many students are migrating from these two countries to America for better education. It is assumed that the syllabus and the question pattern for the civil service jobs in China and India might be one of the reasons for their better performance in many international standardised tests such as TOEFL/IELTS and GRE/GMAT required for higher studies in North America.

A qualitative change of exam syllabus can also stop the criticism from many corners that the study of BCS exam is just a current affairs-based study, which is worthless if someone is not finally selected for civil service. Also, the analytical question-level should be at the level of Class X, which is present in the civil service exams of China or India. 

Many complain that analytical questions of the preliminary exam are at Class VII or VIII level in Bangladesh. That's why many students cannot do well while they sit for any standardised test such as GRE/GMAT. So, there is room for improving the level of math and analytical questions by including math and analytical questions at the level of Class X. 

As most of the BCS applicants start taking preparations even before completing their undergraduate degree, they could end up focusing more on math and analytical questions along with conventional topics if the exams are changed.

BCS exam is not a formal public exam that has different grades of passing. Only the best among the applicants will get the job and the others will get nothing.

It is likely that a lot of applicants with the same intellect are deprived due to limitations in job vacancy. These unfortunate job seekers can also sit for an internationally standardised test with a higher study goal, specifically in North America, if the standards are improved. 

I mention North America as thousands of foreign students are studying at the graduate level without any tuition in the US and receiving stipends if they have a decent score in TOEFL/IELTS and GRE/GMAT. 

Md Rashedur Rahman Sardar is a member of the Bangladesh Civil Service and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the United States.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.