PTK Won't Be Abolished, Modification Allowed

PUTRAJAYA, June 4 (Bernama) -- The Public Service Department (PSD) will not abolish the Pernilaian Tahap Kecekapan (PTK) test for evaluating the competency of civil servants, its director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam said.

However, the PSD had given the leeway for departments and statutory bodies to draw up their own evaluation system to measure the competency level of their employees in giving them a promotion, he added. "It (PTK) can be changed but not abolished because we need a system to evaluate those wanting a promotion. They have to sit for the PTK exam.

"But if a statutory body or department feels it can come up with its own evaluation system, then we will study it and most likely allow it if it's equivalent to the PTK exam," he told a press conference here. Ismail was responding to a call by Cuepacs, the civil servants umbrella body, for the PTK to be abolished, saying that it did not reflect the true competency level of a civil servant. He cited the Accountant-General's Office, where the civil servants there needed not sit for the PTK to gain promotion but their competency would be gauged through a professional test.

"Similarly, organisations like Bernama (Malaysian National News Agency) and RTM (Radio Televisyen Malaysia) can come up with their own evaluation system which they see fit for an officer to pass before being promoted. "Although the PTK exam is the most popular exam chosen, several government departments are implementing their own evaluation system...this we allow." Ismail said although the introduction of PTK was the government's idea, it had consulted Cuepacs before implementing it in 2001.

-- BERNAMA