NEWS media reported that Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Administration Ministry on Wednesday recommended raising the maximum age for joining the civil service to 35 from 30 years. Students of different private and public universities and colleges have been demanding an age limit extension to get government jobs. It is obvious that many posts in government services have remained vacant for years and it has deprived the youths from getting gainful employment. On the other hand, millions of youths who have crossed the age limit to get a government job are unemployed. Bangladesh is undergoing a situation it has never faced before where more than half of the total population is youths, so some policies to contain the youths should be taken.
Under the banner of Bangladesh Sadharon Chhatra Parishad (BSCP), students and job aspirants have held programmes to realize the demand. Students don’t get adequate time to prepare for civil service jobs after their graduation and post graduation. They face delays in completing their education for various reasons, including session jams. However, on June 6, the Public Administration Minister told the parliament that government has no plan to raise the age limit to 35.
As the government had increased the age of retirement from 57 to 59, the entry age into government and private sector jobs should be increased. Civil service is the single largest job sector of Bangladesh. It is more lucrative to job seekers after the government doubled the salary for civil servants in the latest pay scale last year. So, if the government extends the age limit many unemployed youths would breathe a sigh of relief. We see the maximum age of job entry is different from country to country and we have the lowest ceiling.
At this nascent stage of the socio-economy, our vital human resources should be used properly. We do support the JS body proposal for extending the age limit to get a job for the betterment of the youths and the country in general.
