Public administration minister Farhad Hossain told Jatiya Sangsad on Wednesday that the government had no plan to increase the age limit for entering government jobs to 35 years.
He said that if the age limit for entering jobs was increased, the number of candidates competing for different jobs would increase.
鈥楢s a result, there may be more competition for recruitment. This may cause frustration among candidates below 30 years of age,鈥� the minister said in reply to a query of independent lawmaker Md Shamim Shahnewous from Pirojpur-3 constituency in a question and answer session.
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury chaired the session.
Pointing out that there is no session jam in educational institutions, the minister said that although there was a huge session jam in various educational institutions, including in universities, it could be said that there was no significant session jam at present.
Students complete their master鈥檚 degree in 22 or 23 years while the Secondary School Certificate in 16 years, the minister said, adding that as the maximum age limit for entry into jobs is 30 years, they get at least six to seven years to apply for a job even after obtaining a master鈥檚 degree.
If a candidate applies within the age limit of 30 years, it takes 2/1 years to complete the recruitment process, the minister also said, adding that the demand for raising the minimum age for joining the service from 30 years to 35 years is actually closer to that age.
Referring to the report of the Public Service Commission, the minister said that according to the age and gender-wise statistics of the candidates who passed the 43rd Bangladesh Civil Service examination, the number of recommended candidates in the younger age group (23-25) was the highest (37.68 per cent) and the number of recommended candidates in the older group (above 29) is the lowest (1.71 per cent).
The minister also said that the number of vacancies naturally decreased due to the increase in the retirement age from 57 years to 59 years.
If the age limit for entering jobs is increased, the number of candidates in different jobs will increase at a large rate, he said.
As a result, there may be more competition in recruitment, the minister said, adding that by doing this, those who are currently above 30 years of age will get the opportunity to apply for jobs, but there may be disappointment among the candidates below 30 years of age.
Considering the interest and welfare of these students, there is no plan to increase the age limit for entering government jobs to 35 years, the minister said.
In response to independent lawmaker Muhammad Saiful Islam鈥檚 question, state minister for water resources Zaheed Farooque, said that since 2009, 178 river bank protection projects have been undertaken at a cost of Tk 58,118 crore. Out of this, 115 projects had already been implemented while 63 projects were ongoing.
In reply to a query from ruling Awami League lawmaker AK Abdul Momen, law minister Anisul Huq informed the parliament that the government had a plan to increase the number of women and children repression prevention tribunals to reduce the backlog of under-trial cases.