The Public Administration Reforms Commission has recommended that the age limit for entering government jobs will be 35 years for male and 37 years for female.
Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, chairman of the Public Administration Reforms Commission and adviser to the former caretaker government, said this while talking to journalists in Bangladesh Secretariat in the city on Monday.
He, however, said that the final decision will be taken in the advisory council meeting regarding the age limit issue in the public service.
Referring to a neighbouing country, he said the entry age for females was recommended till 37 years so that they get more chances. “The proposal will be placed at the next meeting of the advisory council, and the government will take a decision upon discussion,” he said.
Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury also said, “We have recommended it considering socio-economic aspects of the country. We have not discovered anything new. It exists in many countries of the world. It was taken into consideration that girls get priority in all aspects.”
The interim government formed the committee on September 30 to determine a rational age limit for entering government jobs. The committee was asked to submit report within seven working days.
Currently, the age limit for entering government jobs is 30 years, while it is 32 years for the children of freedom fighters.
The commission chairman said that no decision had been taken about the retirement of the public employees as the government would consider it later.
He said that they discussed the overall issue at the first meeting as there is a deadline for submitting a report by three months.
After two months, he hoped, a structure will be formulated for the reform of the public administration. “No priority has been set yet for reforms as discussions are on...efforts will be made to submit the reports by three months,” the commission chairman added.
Meanwhile, a group of students staged a sit-in protest in front of National Museum at Shahbagh in the capital to demand the swift certification of a proposal to raise the maximum age limit for entering public sector jobs to 35 years for men and 37 years for women. Several job seekers joined the demonstration in the morning.
At present, the age limit to apply for jobs in the public sector is 30 years.
The movement to raise the age bar for government jobs to 35 years has been ongoing for over a decade. However, the demand was rejected several times by the erstwhile Awami League government.
After the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led regime by a student-led mass uprising on August 5, the issue gained renewed traction and the interim government formed a commission to look into the reform.
“We have been protesting to increase the age limit for jobs for 12 years. We were also attacked by the autocratic government several times," said Mamun Rashid, a coordinator of the movement.
He also said, “We have broken Article 144 under the rule of the current government to continue our movement. However, this government has formed a commission to assess our demands and recommended raising the age limit to 35 years for men and 37 years for women. We will be grateful if the state accepts it. However, the student population won’t accept a delay of even one day.”
When asked why the protesters had gathered at Shahbagh despite the recommendations made by the panel, he said, “We don’t believe in any assurances. We have gotten many assurances before. However, our demand wasn’t met. We want a notification to be issued in line with the commission's recommendations.”
Ahmed Tanzil, another coordinator of the movement, said,“We have been protesting for a long time. Afterwards, the government formed a committee. Upon discussions with us, the five-member reform panel recommended raising the age limit for entering government jobs to 35 for men and 37 for women within seven working days.”
He emphasised that the review committee formed by the government saw their demand as reasonable.
“The advisers will have a meeting today. This is why we want the notification to be announced today. Our programme will continue until the announcement is made."
