The protesters seeking to raise the age limit to enter government jobs have announced a hunger strike as part of their ongoing sit-in program.
On Monday afternoon, they declared that they would not leave Shahbagh until an official notification is issued.
Following this declaration, they conducted a sit-in for six hours before announcing the hunger strike.
At 12pm, students began their sit-in in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh to implement their pre-announced program. Over two hundred students from various parts of the country participated in this sit-in.
The students said that they have been executing their program since 12pm and will not leave until their demands are fulfilled.
They further said that for the past 12 years, they have been voicing the same demand, but their voices are not being heard. They are unemployed and have no income. Still, they have come from different parts of the country to fight for their demands. They do not want to protest repeatedly on the streets. Therefore, they want to say that they will only return home once the notification regarding the 35 is issued. They will not leave Shahbagh until then."
Earlier, the protesters said that the age limit for job applications in all sectors of Bangladesh was raised from 27 to 30 years in 1991 when the average life expectancy of the Bangladeshi population was 57 years.
Now that the average life expectancy has increased to 73 years, they argue that it is reasonable to raise the age limit for job applications.
Due to the increase in life expectancy, the retirement age was raised from 57 to 59 years in 2011.
However, the entry age for jobs has remained capped at 30 years, leading to a rise in the number of highly educated unemployed individuals in the country.