JS body for increasing age limit for civil service

A parliamentary body yesterday recommended raising the maximum age for joining the civil service to 35 from 30.

Government jobseekers, including students, have long been demanding the extension of the age limit.

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Under the banner of Bangladesh Sadharon Chhatra Parishad (BSCP), they have held programmes on several occasions to realise the demand.

According to BSCP leaders, 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 jam caused by political unrest, they said.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the public administration ministry made the recommendation at a meeting held at the Jatiya Sangshad building.

However, on June 6, Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam had told parliament that the government has no plan to raise the age limit to 35.

The minister said in the past, there were session jams in the universities which do not exist at present. That's why students usually complete SSC at 16, HSC at 18 and honours at 23 to 24.

Students also get at least six to seven years to get a job after completion of their master's, he said.

Ashraful also said the number of vacant posts in civil service decreased after the government had raised the age limit for retirement to 59 from 57.

Civil service is the single largest job sector of Bangladesh. It has become more lucrative to students after the government doubled the salary for civil servants in the latest pay scale last year.

The JS body yesterday also recommended the authorities scrap the existing process to recruit teachers by the non-government teacher registration and certificate authority. The watchdog suggested appointing the teachers by the local management committees instead.

It also recommended that the government scrap viva-voce exam for recruiting teachers.