Bid to increase number of women in public services

Mudita Bajracharya

Lalitpur, February 9:

Awareness programmes and training for Public Service Examination that aim to increase the number of women in government services, are gaining momentum.

Of 38 vacancies for the post of section officer in administration, legal and revenue services, five women candidates were successful in the PSE exam held in 2004.

Indu Pant Ghimire, national programme manager of Mainstreaming Gender Equity Programme (MGEP) said, turnout of women in PSE was low because of indifference and women’s lack of awareness. “Training aims to encourage and improve the capabilites of women and through that they can bring about change in prevailing patriarchal norms and values rooted in society.”

For this, awareness programmes were held in Kirtipur and the eastern region last year to encourage participation of graduate women. Graduates appearing for the post of section officer need to get through the preliminary exam and the main PSE.

The syllabus of preliminary exam’s syllabus is the same as that of the main exam. After passing the preliminary exam, candidates can take up to two years’ time to appear for the main PSE. Ghimire added MGEP will reach out to the 5 development regions with awareness programmes about the importance of PSE.

MGEP selects more than 100 graduates for training in preliminary exam, on the basis of tests similar to the main exam. However, the provision of 10 percent of seats for training are made out to the disadvantaged groups. Though there is a legal provision of 20 percent quota system for women, it is yet to be implemented.

After the preliminary exam, the candidates are given four months’ training, in association with the Staff Administration College. Arjun Mani Dixit, human resource development officer, said, “Coaching by government officers and resource persons from administrative services provides further training to the candidates.” He added that MGEP is working to fetch better results in the future.

Sita Regmi, a management post graduate from Tribhuvan University, is one successful candidate to have got through the PSE held last year. Regmi said, “The rigorous training we got helped to improve our writing skills and enhance our capacity with necessary materials for the exam.”

She is waiting for Business Administration Training, which is to be provided by the government before officially joining the public service.

MGEP has conducted three training sessions for preliminary exams and four for the main exam for the post of section officer. It has held one training session for the posts of deputy and joint secretary.

It is distributing forms for the training of preliminary exam which will be collected by February 21.