Recognising the requirement of the capacity building of civil servants, the federal government has established and assigned the National School of Public Policy (NSPP) to focus on management training at middle and senior level positions in bureaucracy.
The Chairman of National Commission for Government Reform (NCGR), Dr Ishrat Husain while discussing at a seminar on 'National Training Strategy for Civil Servants' with entrepreneurs, senior government servants and others. The seminar was organised by Social Policy and Development Center (SPDC) here on Tuesday.
Among 180 nations of the world who are Pakistan's competitors for capturing market share in the ever expanding global economy only those will survive that remain agile and adapt themselves to the changing demand patterns, supply value chain and technological up-gradation.
The main players in a country that will together impinge upon its competitiveness and productivity are the state, market and civil society. The respective roles of these main players and their interrelationships have therefore to be redefined and re-calibrated.
Structural economic reforms to improve Pakistan's prospects for competing in the globalised economy require stable, functioning, competent and responsive institutions for implementation.
But unfortunately, we are at present caught in a difficult logjam, while the economic reform themselves create dislocation and displacement in the transition period strong working institutions provide the where withal and armoury to withstand these shocks thus minimising the costs of adjustment and maximising the benefits to the poor and neglected. The urgency to build up strong institutions to implement these structural reforms is necessary.
The NSPP links have been established between performance at training courses and promotions. The NCGR proposes further measures to address the training needs of public sector employees in a holistic manner.
Firstly, strengthen the institutional infrastructure, delivery incentives and standards of training outside the scope of NSPP. Secondly, expand in service training opportunities for the majority of officers working outside the cadre services.
Thirdly, upgrade the quality of training institutions in the provincial governments particularly for capacity building at the local government level.
The Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) recruits 700 specialists or technical persons or more annually against non-cadre position in BPS-17 and above in different ministries of the government in contrast to 150 officers in the generalist cadre services and cadres. No standardised training is being imparted to these officers.
Dr Ishrat Husain said, the Board of Governors of NSPP has recently decided the introduction of Common Training Programme (CTP) for ex-cadre officers after their initial recruitment by the FPSC.
More than 60 percent officers of the federal government belonging to ex-cadre positions do not undergo any training in their career. This seriously impairs the capacity of the government in designing and implementing projects and programmes requiring specialist inputs.
The provincial governments have not accorded priority or resources for the continuos training of their officers both generalists and specialists. The demands arising out of the devolution to local tiers of the government have brought to our attention the lack of capacity among the officers at districts and tehsil levels.
Dr Ishrat Husain said, the security of tenure for professionals appointed at various government positions must be ensured to work in a positive environment.
As far as legal education in the country should be full time instead of part time. In this regard, the government is stressing several institutions to establish center for excellence for law studies in the country to produce quality graduates for judicial community, he added. Asad Jehangir, Shafqat Jamote, Shahid Kardar, Nargis Sethi, Professor Dr Khalida Ghaus and others were present on the occasion.