2024-05-07 21:33:43
Public Administration Minister Farhad Hossain said that increasing the age limit for entering government jobs is a matter of policy decision. Mentioning that he will discuss further with the Prime Minister, the minister said that the government has no decision to increase the age limit for now. What to increase in the future – not to increase, will it be good to increase? —It is a matter of our policy decision. I will discuss the matter further in the future – then I can take a final decision.
The minister gave this information while answering two separate supplementary questions in the question-and-answer session of the National Assembly on Monday (April 6). Earlier in the supplementary question, Rafiqul Islam Biruttam of Chandpur-5 Constituency and MP Farida Yasmin of Reserved Constituency want to know whether there is any plan to increase the age limit of employment.
In his question, Rafiqul Islam said that the age limit for joining government service was fixed long ago. Already the life expectancy of people in our country has reached from 62 years to 72 years. Now it would be very logical to relax the present age limit for joining government services and bring it to at least 35 years. If this is the case, our youth and youth who are depressed due to lack of employment will be able to compete and enter government jobs. I would request the government to relax the age limit. It is time to create opportunities to join government jobs. We have a ‘no’ attitude – we have to get out of it and move to ‘yes’.
In response, Public Administration Minister Farhad Hossain said that the government has taken many groundbreaking steps in the last 15 years. The age of service was 27 years and was raised to 30 years from there. It has been made 32 years for children of freedom fighters. The retirement age from service has been increased from 57 years to 59 years. We are always modernizing the manpower structure and recruitment process to keep pace with the times. We also change with the times.
Mentioning the age of entry and exit (retirement) is a very important issue, the minister said that there is now a lot of attraction around government jobs. Highly talented people from various universities are joining the cadre service. Right from the government job environment to the pay structure has created a big attraction for the new generation. Involvement in government work is an honor. Again starting from job security the salary structure is very good and the working environment is also good.
On the question of increasing the age, he said, it is a matter of policy decision. We always say, fresh graduates who want to recruit them. It is a government policy. We see through BCS from the age of 22/23 they take BCS exam. They get 6/7 years. That is why they are getting enough time to join.
The Prime Minister mentioned this matter in the Parliament and the Minister said, “We always think about what would be better to do according to the needs of the age.” But I think it is a policy decision. Should we raise the working age in the future or not, will it be better if we raise it?— It is a matter of our policy decision. We will be able to take a final decision through further discussions on this in the future.
Farida Yasmin of reserved seat said that the education minister has given a semi-official letter (DO letter) to increase the service age to 35 years. Does the government have any plans for this?
In reply, the minister said, we have already received such a letter from the education minister. As I said earlier it is a matter of our policy decision. I will discuss further with the Prime Minister. But for now we have no decision to raise the age of entry into the service. I will discuss it further in the future.
Speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury chaired the question and answer session at the beginning of the meeting.