Home ›› 28 May 2021 ›› World Biz
Mizanur Rahman
Shahidul Islam is five months short of his 30 and he is out to get a government job. Since March 2020, Shahidul applied for many jobs, received 15 admit cards, and could appear only at six recruitment tests.
He is still uncertain whether he would be able to join any government job even if he qualifies as there remains only five months for him to cross the age limit for any government job.
Shahidul completed his master’s degree from Rajshahi College in 2015 and came to Dhaka looking for a government job. But he had to join a private company as an office assistant-cum-typist and lost the job after Covid-19 pandemic began.
“If there was no pandemic, I could have applied for many jobs. Hundreds of thousands of jobseekers including me are going to cross the age limit to join public service,” said a gloomy Shahidul.
“As the impact of Covid-19 is a global phenomenon, every sector is suffering from it. I think the government should take an integrated plan for the jobseekers, who would cross the age limit during the pandemic, Shahidul said.
Sheikh Sazzad has completed his bachelor’s final examination in English at Government Titumir College in Dhaka but his results are yet to be published. Though Sazzad is preparing for the Bangladesh Civil Service examination, he will not be able to sit for the examination if his results were not published.
He said that the authorities had deferred their final examinations by six months. “Normally, it takes 90 days to publish the results but I think this year it will take more time. We have lost nearly one year,” he said.
He said that the government should extend the age limit at least by one year. If the pandemic continues, the age limit should be extended further, he said.
He said that the students and unemployed youths were suffering from financial crisis during the pandemic. The government can take sector-wise job examinations in clusters so that the jobseekers get opportunity to sit for many examinations in same sector at a time, Sazzad suggested.
Another jobseeker Jewel Rana faced three viva-voces and hopes to be selected for any one from those. If he fails to get any job by November, he will be overaged.
The cases of Shahidul, Sazzad, and Jewel are very common examples when hundreds of thousands of students and jobseekers are afraid of passing out the age limit during the Covid-19 caused pandemic.
Over 3.87 lakh positions vacant in public service
A survey jointly conducted by the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development and the Power and Participation Research Centre on "One year into the Covid-19 Crisis; Poverty dynamics and household crisis" found 31 per cent female and six per cent male had no income source in March this year and it was 32 per cent female and 16 per cent male in June last year. The findings were released on April 11.
As per 2017 data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the country’s total workforce was 6 crore 35 lakh and of them 6 crore 8 lakh were employed. It shows the country’s unemployment rate 4.2 per cent which is 27 lakh. The bureau did not conduct any survey on the labour force and it has no data on the current unemployment situation caused by the pandemic.
According to the Ministry of Public Administration, 3,87,338 positions in civil service remain vacant against total 18,21,284 positions.
Although different ministries, divisions, departments, directorates, autonomous bodies, and corporations wanted to recruit people, they repeatedly deferred dates of recruitment tests over health concerns.
The Public Service Commission also deferred its examination schedules several times in 2020 and finally the preliminary test for the 41st BCS was held on March 19.
The private and informal job sectors, on the other hand, are also facing 60 per cent less recruitment during the pandemic. Though the recruitment scenario turned around for few months, the sectors are now fearing impact of the second wave of the pandemic.
According to online job portal bdjobs.com, job circulars have reduced by 50-60 per cent in 2020 while daily new job circulars on the portal reduced to one-third compared to the normal time.
No update on grace on age limit
Mozammel Miazi, chief coordinator of student’s rights body Bangladesh Sadharan Chhatra Kalyan Parishad, told The Business Post that the National University was facing session jam before the pandemic began. Now all the private and public universities, including Dhaka University are facing session jam for the prolonged pandemic-caused shutdown, he said.
“The government earlier had assured us of a grace on age limit for government jobs, but there is no update from the concerned ministry. Around 30 lakh students are sufferings from session jam while around 8 to 10 lakh jobseekers passed their 30 during the ongoing pandemic,” he said.
Mozammel also demanded that the existing age limit should be extended to 35 years with a grace of two years. He said that the government allocated special incentives for different sectors including teachers, so there should be an allocation for unemployed students in the upcoming budget as special incentive.
Nazneen Ahmed, Senior Research Fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, told The Business Post that the government was not in a normal situation because of the pandemic. “I think the government will surely consider those who will cross their 30 this year,” she said.
Former Cabinet Secretary Ali Imam Majumder said that the age limit should not be extended above 30 years. Those who crossed their 30 during the pandemic should be provided with some opportunities, he added.
Education Minister Dipu Moni told The Business Post that the government would consider those who had crossed the age limit for government jobs during the pandemic.
As of Wednesday, Bangladesh lost 12,458 lives from Covid-19, according to the Director General of Health Services. The caseloads also reached to 7,93,693.
Bangladesh is currently under a nationwide lockdown which is scheduled to continue till May 30, as part of the measures taken against the spread of the virus.
