We look at how raising the age threshold for Bangladeshi youth “obsessed” with government jobs at the expense of gaining experience in their field would likely make matters worse.
The issue of the upper age limit for entry into the civil service has resurfaced in the national debate, with Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury recently sending a letter to the Ministry of Public Administration proposing to raise the age threshold to 35 years, with two additional years allowed for quota posts.
Currently, the age limit for entering government service is 30 years (32 according to various quotas, including those for freedom fighters, etc.).
The Education Minister mentioned in his correspondence that students have been protesting on the streets for a long time demanding that the maximum age limit for applying for jobs be set at 35 years, aligning with “international standards.”
In 2018, the Awami League’s election manifesto also acknowledged this issue and promised that the government would implement practical and justified measures to increase the age limit for entry into government jobs, taking into consideration merit and skills.
However, given the current socio-economic reality of the country, with the high rate of unemployed graduates (nearly 800,000 college graduates, or 12% by the end of 2022, according to BBS) and the predominant search for government jobs by young people, resulting in a deficit of practical skills and productivity among them, the proposal to increase the maximum age for entering government service appears unsustainable.
What is most crucial now is to prioritise equipping the younger generation with practical skills and fostering a culture of financial independence from an early age so that the country can make the most of the demographic dividend. The issue of delays in government recruitment also needs to be addressed to make the lives of job seekers a little less uncertain.
But before we delve into these issues, let us dismantle the rationale behind the demand for raising the age limit.
Supporters of this claim often cite the example of other countries: in 162 countries the age limit for applying for public jobs is 35, while in others it remains open.
Even our neighbouring country India has different age limits for government jobs, which usually range from 32 to 42 years depending on the state and type of job. However, for government administrative jobs, the minimum age is usually 21 years and the maximum is 32 years.
Nepal has set an upper age limit of 35 years for government posts, and mandates that applications for the posts of undersecretary and joint secretary can be submitted up to a maximum of 45 years for vacant posts. Similarly, Sri Lanka increased its age limit for applications for government jobs from 35 to 45 years in 2020.
According to the protesters demanding an increase in the age limit, our country should also adopt similar measures, considering the increase in average life expectancy.
In 1991, when the age limit for accessing public posts was raised from 27 to 30, the average life expectancy in Bangladesh was 59 years. It has now increased to 72.4 years.
However, it is important to note that the fact that many other countries, including some neighbouring ones, have a higher age limit does not necessarily mean that we should blindly follow their example, even if there is an increase in life expectancy.
This is especially pertinent when one considers that our country still has a young population, with an average age of 27. These people could contribute significantly to the nation’s progress through their efficiency and productivity, particularly if they do not dedicate themselves solely to preparing for government positions.
Dr Md Aminul Haque, Professor of Population Sciences at Dhaka University, considers this age as the “golden hour” of an individual’s life.
It is a crucial period for personal development and decision-making, during which individuals can experience significant growth, make crucial life decisions, and establish fundamental aspects of their future.
Leading a productive lifestyle during this period of life can also have a positive impact on the demographic dividend. It can increase overall productivity, lifetime earnings and long-term economic stability, as well as improve skills development and reduce the dependency ratio.
On the other hand, if a young individual, who finished his education several years ago, still has no clear vision or purpose well into his 20s, it would mean a total waste of his talent and skills.
This often happens to the youth of our country.
Instead of committing to a specific life plan, many still cling to the hope of one day landing a government job. Some even reduce their age by a year or two on their NIDs to gain a few more years in their arsenal.
But the harsh reality is that for most of our youth, the dream of landing a public job remains elusive. This is due to the annual influx of approximately 20 to 22 million young people into the labour market, while the number of vacant public jobs at all levels amounts to only approximately 32 to 38 thousand.
It is therefore unrealistic to expect all recent graduates to land a government job. Instead, most will face disappointment.
Raising the age limit for applications by five years will only make matters worse, as it will take away another five years that could have been spent developing their careers in other fields.
In the context of our country, where getting a decent private job is also difficult, people over 35 may feel disoriented. They may even have difficulty finding satisfactory employment for a long period because they have focused exclusively on memorizing data for employment exams, neglecting the development of other skills.
“This will inevitably lead to a rise in unemployment in the country,” said Dr Tariq Monzur, a professor of Bengali at Dhaka University, who was also part of the committee that introduced the new curriculum and school textbooks.
He also proposed replacing general knowledge questions in employment exams with more analytical ones.
AKM Fahim Masroor, CEO and co-founder of Bdjobs, is of the opinion that instead of raising the upper age limit to 35, it should be reduced to 27 or 28. “Three to four years after graduation should be enough for students to access government jobs,” he argued.
Still, if the age limit is raised, it is important to recognize work experience in other fields. Shahida Pervin, an associate professor of economics at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, proposed the idea of implementing age limits in several stages. For example, keeping the age restriction at 30 but allowing entry at older ages based on additional experience.
In reality, however, the lack of skills among Bangladeshi youth is quite alarming.
Even though one in four unemployed Bangladeshis has a higher education, the country sends significant amounts of money abroad through foreign workers. It is clear that unemployment is not only a result of a lack of jobs, but also a lack of skills.
It is imperative to transform educated youth into a skilled workforce through various means.
For example, approximately 12,000 students graduate each year in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) or Information Technology (IT). However, the country’s IT industry employs only 5,000 people annually. This indicates that there is more than twice the supply of graduates in these fields compared to the demand. Paradoxically, despite this surplus, interested institutions are struggling to fill positions, as many job seekers lack practical skills, such as basic coding.
According to Masroor, these problems are directly related to the “obsession of Bangladeshi youth with getting government jobs at the expense of gaining experience in their own field.” In order to build a skilled workforce, it is essential to refocus the attention of young people from just getting government jobs to developing skills that are valuable across all sectors.
The problem of government job backlogs also needs to be addressed. According to the Ministry of Public Administration, there are currently more than 504,000 vacant government jobs in the country, up from 314,000 in 2020, an increase of almost 60% in four years. Regular selection tests could help gradually reduce these vacancies.
It took the Public Service Commission (PSC) four years and four months, from November 2019 to March 2024, to complete the 41st BCS examinations, which were the last fully completed general BCS examinations so far.
This means that even if someone applied for the exams when they were about to turn 30 and successfully passed all the stages, they would have to wait until they were over 34 for their appointment to be published in the official gazette.
Now, if we consider a scenario where this cycle of delay continues and the upper age limit is raised to 35 years, there may be people approaching 40 years of age who are still waiting to finally enter government service.
There may be some truth to the saying “life begins at 40,” but in a situation like this it would be nothing short of a nightmare.
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