The government has revised the regulations for participating in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination, increasing the maximum age limit to 32 years and reducing the marks for viva exams and exam fees.
The Ministry of Public Administration issued a gazette notification on Wednesday, amending the "Bangladesh Civil Service (Age, Eligibility, and Examination for Direct Recruitment) Rules, 2014." According to the notification, the changes are effective retroactively from November 27, 2024.
The notification, signed by Dr Md Mokhlesur Rahman, Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, was officially published on the same day.
According to the notification, the maximum age limit for BCS exam candidates has been increased from 30 years to 32 years.
Previously, the advisory council had decided that the age limit for government jobs should be extended to 32 years and that candidates would have a maximum of four attempts at the BCS exam.
However, the Public Service Commission (PSC) opposed the restriction on the number of attempts and recommended allowing candidates unlimited attempts within the age range.
Consequently, the revised rules do not include any limitation on the number of attempts. Candidates aged between 21 and 32 years can now participate in the BCS exam as many times as they wish.
When asked for clarification, Public Relations Officer Md Mansur Hossain from the Ministry of Public Administration said: “The amendments made in the rules are effective. Since the issue of not participating more than four times is not in the rules, it should be assumed that it is not effective.”
Additionally, the rules previously allowed a maximum age limit of 32 years for candidates under freedom fighter quotas, persons with disabilities, health cadre applicants, and underprivileged groups.
The new rules eliminate these subclauses, setting the maximum age limit at 32 for all candidates.
The examination fee has been reduced from Tk700 to Tk200 for general candidates and from Tk 100 to Tk50 for underprivileged candidates.
The marks for the viva exam have been reduced from 200 to 100, decreasing the total exam score from 1,100 to 1,000.
