On Friday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has approved the proposal for an extension of age limit for appearing in the Central Superior Services (CSS) Examination. The upper age limit has been extended from 28 to 30 years.

The summary was moved by the planning and development ministry who were tirelessly pursuing prime minister’s acceptance for months. The primary agenda of the proposal was to increase the upper age limit of the candidates by 2 years for appearing in the CSS examination. In March, prime minister rejected the proposal by citing that younger people should be encouraged to join since they are more receptive to the core ethics of the civil service.

Ahsan Iqbal announced the news via Facebook

Couple of days ago, minister of planning, national reforms and development, Ahsan Iqbal announced via Facebook live session that the prime minister and cabinet had finally approved the extension of age limit from 28 to 30 years.

The upper age limit for serving government employees (both federal and provincial) has been increased from 30 to 32 years for CSS examinations. The new age limit will be applicable to students appearing in the first exam of the coming year.

Ahsan Iqbal has welcomed the move he is quite hopeful that this decision will empower the youth. He said that the Bachelor’s degree now takes up 4 years and there is an added interest in the students for Master’s. The extension in age limit will attract a pool of more qualified individuals.

Age limit restored to original age criteria

The upper age limit used to be 30 (for students) and 32 years (for government employees). However, during General Pervez Musharraf’s government, the age was reduced by 2 years. The approval from Nawaz Sharif is essentially the restoration of the original age criteria.