The Public Service Commission is committed to driving Government’s core initiative of capacity building within the public service through manpower development at all levels, says PSC permanent secretary Mr Parmesh Chand. “We utilise every opportunity available to train and up-skill civil servants either through in-house training, further studies at local institutions or short and long term training overseas using our own resources or bilateral and multilateral assistance programme,” Mr Chand said.
“All these have been very useful to us in development of manpower in the public service.”
“It is, however also timely to review the impact and results from such training and how best we can make improvements wherever necessary.”
“As such a review is underway and we expect it to be completed within the first quarter of 2011.”
Mr Chand said that as Government continued to up-skill its workforce through in-service training, it was aware of the impact of having workers absent from their normal workplaces.
“Such absence, affects the continuity and efficiency of workplace performance. It is quite costly to provide scholarships and simultaneously release them on full pay,” he said.
The permanent secretary said PSC would like to continue its programmes of manpower development in the most cost effective and practical manner.
He added the release of civil servants on full pay and scholarship for extended periods of time does end up stretching Government’s limited resources.
The review will recommend improvement strategies for the administration of in-service scholarships awarded to civil servants through ascertaining the effects on the continuity and efficiency of work normally performed by officers when they leave for studies and the financial impact on the ministry budget, when civil servants go on study leave with or without pay.
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