Civil service exams will be completed in a year, says PSC Chairman Monem

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has announced a plan to shorten the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination process from three and a half years to just one.

PSC Chairman Mobasser Monem outlined the commission’s vision during a media briefing on Tuesday, held in conjunction with the commission’s founding anniversary.

“The responsibility entrusted to us is to reduce the three and a half years of BCS to one year,” Monem said.

“If we want to do it in one year, I doubt how much it will be possible even if we try with the current system in which the exam is taken. We have to go for an innovative system that is used in developed countries.”

“Our main target is that the BCS examination that is now held is, on an average, three and a half years late. We know this should be reduced. For that, we have taken or are taking effective measures.”

At the heart of the proposed reform is a “Circular System of Checking Exam Scripts,” a method Monem described as both "innovative and necessary".

Under the current model, exam scripts are reviewed sequentially by two examiners, each taking one and a half to two months.

It takes nearly three to four months to check the records.

If there is a disparity of more than 20 marks between their assessments, a third examiner is brought in, adding further delays.

“This process does not align with our goal of reducing time,” Monem said.

“That is why we are going for a circular system.”

In the new system, all examiners would sit together, each evaluating answers to a single question across all scripts.

“When we do the second exam, the standards of the two examiners may be different. If one examiner gives 60, another examiner may give 30.”

“When an examiner sees a question in the circular system, we can assess whose answer is the best,” he said.

“Understanding this makes it a little easier to ensure fairness. If we can do this, there is no need to go to the second examiner.”

To safeguard integrity, the commission plans to anonymise scripts using barcodes.

This, Monem explained, would prevent examiners from identifying candidates by roll number and would allow precise tracking of scores per question.

The PSC has already taken initial steps in this direction, piloting the circular checking method in mathematics during the 45th BCS.

Monem noted that while the approach worked well for a technical subject, adjustments may be necessary for more interpretive disciplines like sociology.

“We will understand by piloting; we will understand by experimenting,” he said.

The 46th BCS will serve as the testing ground for more comprehensive implementation of the reform.

Monem confirmed that the commission has agreed “in principle” to check written exam records internally for that round.