CSS aspirants may get Urdu as an optional language, Senate passes resolution

The upper legislative chamber of Pakistan, Senate has recently passed a resolution that seeks to allow Central Superior Services (CSS) aspirants to take Urdu as an optional language to prepare the country’s premier services exams. Senate resolution about Urdu as a medium of exam for CSS has no legal effect at this time as no Bill has been passed in the Senate.

Sirajul Haq, the Chief of Pakistan’s socially conservative and Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), moved the resolution in the upper house of Parliament, demanding that the CSS exams must be taken in Urdu.

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He also remarked that countries like China, Japan, and South Korea have embraced development on a global scale because they use their own national language in competitive services exams. “We can also progress by holding the CSS exams in Urdu,” he argued.

Sirajul Haq said that due to the current language barrier only five percent of candidates could pass compulsory subjects of Pakistan’s superior services and competitive examination body.

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State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said the CSS exam comprises six compulsory subjects and 45 optional. He also said that all compulsory subjects must be taught in the English language in universities, whereas the CSS aspirants should be allowed to take their exams in any language of their choice.

As a conclusion of the long debate in the house, the Senate adopted the resolution with an amendment that Urdu be added as an optional language in the exams alongside English.

It must be noted that there is a huge difference between a resolution and a bill passed in the Senate or National Assembly. Such resolutions are passed on a daily basis in legislative assemblies but it doesn’t mean that the resolutions will turn into a law.