Finance Minister AMA Muhith has reportedly rejected students’ demand for extending the government’s recruitment age limit.
In a letter to the public administration ministry, Muhith, however, recommended the introduction of a quota for the direct recruitment of qualified job seekers at every level of the ministries and divisions.
Sources in the ministry said the public administration ministry was now examining the matter.
The observations from the minister came following demands raised by Shadharan Chhatra Parishad, a body of students, last week for extending the age limit of government recruitment from the existing 30 to 35 years.
In his letter, dated March 3, Muhith wrote a personal note saying that he was against extending the age limit, but recommended a quota for educated job seekers at every level of ministries and divisions.
The recent labour survey 2010 by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistic (BBS) revealed that a large number of people with a master’s degree were unemployed in the country, while unemployment was low among the uneducated and informally educated people.
The BBS findings also said the country had around 25.68 lakh unemployed people in 2010.
The survey also found that of the total unemployed, 14.27% were doctors and engineers, while 31% of all women doctors were unemployed. The unemployed also included 13.78% people with higher secondary degrees, while 10.25% of the unemployed were masters degree holders.
Shadharan Chhatra Parishad General Secretary Al Ammin Raju told the Dhaka Tribune that educated people would not be benefitted from the finance minister’s recommendation, as he did not mention the age limit of direct recruitment at the ministry and divisions for educated people.
The students would graduate by the age of 23 in an ideal world, Raju said, adding that mismanagement by the country’s universities force students to spend three to five extra years for higher studies.
“Recruitment should be based on a candidate’s competence and not age,” he added.
Current and former students, under the banner of Shadharan Chhatra Parishad, termed the 30-year age limit unfair, and said most students could not graduate until they were nearly 28 as the public universities were burdened with session jams.
