No plan to raise age limit for entry into govt jobs: Farhad

PBC News:  State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain has said that the government has no plans to raise the age limit for entry into government jobs.

He made this comment at Parliament in Dhaka on Tuesday.

The state minister said, “Due to the Covid-19 situation, various ministries and departments apart from BCS could not issue circulars for direct recruitment in various categories of government jobs. Those institutions are requested to fix the maximum age limit of the candidates on March 25, 2020 in the recruitment circular to be published by December 31.”

Replying to a question from BNP MP Mosharraf Hossain, Farhad Hossain said, “There was a big session jam in various educational institutions including universities which is almost absent now. As a result, students usually pass SSC in 16 years, HSC in 18 years, and obtain post graduate degree in 23 to 24 years. The maximum age limit for general candidates to enter the job is 30 years, so even after obtaining a master’s degree; they have six to seven years to apply for the job.”

In addition, if a candidate within 30 years of age applies for a job, even if it takes a year or two to complete the recruitment process, it is not counted, said Farhad.

The state minister further said, “The number of vacancies has come down naturally as the retirement age from government service has been raised from 57 to 59 years recently. In this context, if the age limit for entry into the job is increased, the number of job seekers will increase at a huge rate as opposed to different positions. This may lead to more competition in recruitment. This can lead to frustration among candidates under the age of 30. For this reason, the government has no plans to increase the age limit for entering the job.”