Bangladesh
Age Limit Demand to increase age limit increases
Dhaka: The last age limit for entry into government service was raised in 1991. After that the retirement age was increased but the entry age was not increased. Students and job seekers have been agitating for rising unemployment, session jams, delays in recruitment, and raising the maximum age for entry into service in line with other countries. However, the government did not take any initiative in this regard.
In such a context, the organizations are going on a vigorous movement to demand raising the maximum age of entry into service to 35 years. At present the age limit for entry into government service is 30 years, in the case of children of freedom fighters it is 32 years.
It is learned that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Public Administration has made several recommendations to increase the age of entry into service. The cabinet secretary said that steps are being taken in this regard at the end of the last government. But after the Eleventh Parliamentary Election, the Awami League formed the government again but the issue of raising the age of entry into service was lost.
Officials at the Ministry of Public Administration said the government has no plans to raise the maximum age for entry into employment.
Leaders of the agitating organizations say their movement, like everything else, has come to a standstill due to the Corona epidemic. The Bangladesh General Student Council has started the movement again through the sit-in program at the Press Club on September 19. The council leaders said they would soon call for a nationwide vigorous movement to realize their demands.
At one time the maximum age for entry into government service was 25 years and the retirement age was 55 years. From the beginning of independent Bangladesh, the maximum age for entry into service was 28 years and the retirement age was 56 years. In 1991, the age of entry into government service was raised by three years to 30. In 2012, the retirement age was increased by two years to 59 years. The retirement age of freedom fighter officers and employees is 60 years.
According to a study published by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) last December, one-third (33.19 per cent) of young people with SSC and post-graduate degrees in the country are completely unemployed.
A recent report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) found that the coronavirus has left many people worldwide jobless and jobless. At the same time the rate of job circulars and applications has decreased. Compared to April 2019 in Bangladesh, the rate of online job circular has decreased by 6 percent in April this year. Most of the job circulars have been reduced in the garment and education sectors. Despite the reduction in circulars, NGOs are in the best position among the sectors.
