A group of government job seekers have begun a hunger strike unto death, demanding reforms to the Public Service Commission (PSC), including taking proper measures to prevent question leaks, resolving sufferings, allocating 100 marks for the viva exam from the 45th BCS onwards, giving opportunity to re-choose cadre, increasing non-cadre posts.and ensuring jobs for all who pass the viva.
In addition, they demanded speeding up answer sheet evaluation, arranging for answer sheets to be checked in the commission to ensure neutrality and increasing the number of commission members from 25 to 30 by issuing an ordinance quickly.
The hunger strike began at the base of the Anti-Terrorism Raju Sculpture on Thursday around 12pm and continues through the day.
Sirajus Salehin, a Buet student and one of the participants in the hunger strike, told Dhaka Tribune that they started with 3 persons and now have approximately 50 persons with them, as of 6:50pm.
Shah Alam Sneho, a student from the 2014-15 session at Dhaka University, another hunger striker, told Dhaka Tribune that one of their main demands is PSC reform.
Citing that questions for the 46th BCS exam were leaked and those involved confessed to the media, he said that even after this incident, the PSC passed 11,000 students in the first phase and another 11,000 in the subsequent phase.
"A BCS result is published only once. So why did they publish a second result? We demand that everyone involved in the question leak be expelled and exemplary punishment be given. We want to sit for a fresh BCS exam with a clean slate," Sneho added.
Abdul Karim, another hunger striker from Dhaka University's 2018-19 session, told Dhaka Tribune that they demand reform of the PSC and accountability for why the 46th BCS is being pushed forward despite the question leak.
"We want transparency without any ambiguity," Karim added.
