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Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury has sent a letter to Public Administration Minister Professor Farhad Hosne to raise the age limit for government job applications from 30 to 35 years. In the letter, he has given several arguments in favor of making the age limit 35 years.
Confirming the letter on Tuesday (April 30), Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education MA Khair said that the Minister of Education has written to the Minister of Public Administration to extend the period of application for government jobs from 30 to 35 years.
According to the recently sent letter of the Education Minister, the age limit of application for all types of jobs in Bangladesh including Government/Private/Semi-Government/Government Institutions/Autonomous follows 30 years as a standard. In this situation, the students have been protesting on the streets for a long time regarding the demand to make the age limit of job application minimum 35 years according to international standards. The government realized the issue in the 2018 election manifesto of Bangladesh Awami League page number 33 in the paragraph on increasing education, skills and employment, it was mentioned that 'reasonable measures will be taken in view of the reality, taking into account merit and skills to increase the age limit for entering government jobs'.
The minister said that the age limit for applying for jobs at all levels in Bangladesh was raised from 27 years to 30 years in 1991, 33 years ago, when the average life expectancy of people in Bangladesh was 57 years. At present, the average life expectancy of people in Bangladesh has increased to 73 years, so it is logical to increase the age limit for applying for jobs.
Apart from this, due to covid-19, no recruitment circular has been published for almost two and a half years and no recruitment examination has been conducted. Additionally, since the lifting of the lockdown, 10-15 or more exams have been held on the same day, at the same time every weekend, resulting in thousands of job aspirants missing out. Those who were 27-29 years old at the start of Covid-19 are now 30 or older. As a result the job aspirants actually got 27 and a half years instead of 30 years in the competitive examination. To compensate the loss, the government provides an age relaxation with a backdate of 39 months. But actually the backdate was effective for 13 months, remaining 26 months were inactive. So permanent aging is very important.
He also said that in about 162 countries of the world, the age limit for applying for jobs is at least 35 years, in some of them it is open. Among South Asian countries, our neighboring country India is the most populous country in the world, but the maximum age limit for applying for jobs in different states is 45 years, 45 years in Maldives, 45 years in Sri Lanka, 35 years in Nepal, 35 years in Afghanistan. The developed countries of the world, including India, have done a lot of research and made the age limit for job application a minimum of 35 years according to international standards. In order to eliminate unemployment and create a developed smart Bangladesh based on talent, it is necessary to make students skilled at international standards and also to create opportunities to enter the international job market. If this large number of educated youth can be used as human resources, it will be a timely and groundbreaking decision and several steps can be taken in building a smart Bangladesh. All developed countries of the world including India have reduced unemployment by following this policy and increased remittances by exporting talent. Due to keeping the age limit for job application at 30, skilled manpower, researchers are not being developed in the country and Bangladeshi students are not able to enter the international job market. We should follow the successful and developed world. The age limit for applying for jobs in China, the world's second largest economy and emerging superpower, is up to 40 years.
In such cases, the maximum age limit for application in all Ministries/Departments and Subordinate Offices/Directorates/Departments and Statutory/Autonomous/Nationalized Institutions at various levels of employment is minimum 35 years as per International Standards (37 years for children of BJS, Doctors, Freedom Fighters), Police SI It was specially requested to take necessary measures considering the issue of providing opportunity to participate in the examination up to 30 years in the recruitment of sergeant, opening the said age limit in research and various special skill areas as per government policy.
