Govt job seekers get 21 month extension on age limit

The government has decided to extend the age limit for government jobs by 21 months due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a notice from the Ministry of Public Administration (MoPA).

According to a letter sent on Thursday, applicants who have reached or exceeded the age of 30 from 25 March last year to 31 December this year, will be eligible to benefit from this waiver.

However, this age waiver will not be applicable for the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examinations.

MoPA said that the ministries, departments and its subordinate offices, which could not call for recruitment due to the pandemic, must set the age limit of candidates as of 25 March 2020, for all recruitment calls to be published by 31 December this year.

A few days ago, State Minister for Public Administration, Farhad Hossain, told the media that a new proposal in this regard had been sent to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from the ministry.

"We did the same last year. We relaxed the age limit, allowing candidates who turned 30 after March 25 to apply for government jobs," he added.

Jobseekers have been demanding the increase of the age limit for government jobs from 30 years for quite some time now, but the government is unwilling to increase the limit permanently.

At present, the age limit for entry into government service is 30 years but in the case of children of freedom fighters, it is 32 years.

First and second-class jobs are recruited through the Public Service Commission (PSC). The responsibility for appointment to third- and fourth-class posts lies with the various concerned government departments. All types of recruitment were closed during the general holiday from March to May last year.

According to updated statistics of government officials and employees published by the MoPA, there were 387,338 government service vacancie in July last year.