The government is going to change the system of its officials and employees’ performance evaluation system from January 2022.
As part of the move, the government is going to introduce a digital system for annual performance evaluation, said sources in the Ministry of Public Administration.
The change in the existing system aims to stop irregularities in posting and promotion of officials.
According to sources, the government will introduce the Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) system based on online instead of the existing Annual Confidential Report (ACR) system. Initially the APAR will be introduced for the officials and employees from the ninth to second grades.
Later, this system will be implemented for other officials and employees too.
The APAR system will likely to help stop lobbying for posting or promotion through irregular ways
According to officials, the duration of the APAR evaluation procedure for officers will be determined in the same way as our financial year is calculated.
Sources said, the Prime Minister has already approved the proposal in principle and following the approval, the Ministry of Public Administration recently has taken a number of pilot initiatives to implement the decision step by step. The technical committee has already started the work.
Elaborating , an official concerned of the Ministry of Public Administration said the main goal is to improve the skills and quality of service of an official or an employee as well as to give the opportunity to bring the best mettle or talents out of an official or employee .
“As a result, the personal excellence of an employee will increase and the country and society will also be benefitted a lot from his work”, he said.
They said, apart from expanding the quality of good governance in the administration, the main challenge of APAR is to ensure proper evaluation to an official or employee since his joining to his retirement.
They expressed hopes that when the new evaluation system, APAR will be fully implemented instead of the existing ACR system, the recruitment, transfer and promotion of officers will be a more transparent and accountable process.
After the APAR system is implemented, none could be able to apply lobbying for his/her posting. He who will make himself proficient for the position. APAR's assessment will also be given utmost importance in promotion, they said.
According to officials concerned, a group of sharp officials and employees of the Career Planning and Training (CPT) division of the Public Administration Minister is working for the implementation of the new initiative.
Talking about the progress of the initiative, an official of the ministry said that a summary of the task has already been sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on January 26. In the summery, it has been said clearly that an objective performance evaluation system should be introduced for government employees.
Besides, the Ministry of Public Administration already has organised several workshops, where the new initiative and its different aspects were discussed.
Moreover, on October 10 last year, in presence of the Cabinet Secretary, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, several senior secretaries and secretaries of various ministries, a detailed discussion was held on the formulation of the proposed performance-based assessment system.
Another meeting related to the administrative development was also held on December 6 last year when the proposal was approved with several recommendations.
According to the decision of the committee of secretaries, this evaluation system has to be fully implemented from January 1, 2022.