Public Administration Minister Farhad Hossain on Wednesday said the government has no plan to raise the age limit to 35 years for entering government jobs.
“The number of candidates in different jobs will increase at a large extent. As a result, there may be more competition in recruitment. This may cause frustration among candidates below 30 years of age,” the minister said in parliament while replying to a tabled query of independent MP elected from Pirojpur Md. Shamim Shahnewous.
He said as there is no session jam in educational institutions at present students complete Master's degree in 22/23 years with SSC in 16 years.
As the maximum age limit for entry into the government jobs is 30 years, they get at least 6/7 years to apply for a job even after obtaining a master's degree.
Besides, he said, if a candidate applies within the age limit of 30 years, it takes 2/1 year to complete the recruitment process. “As a result, the demand to raise the minimum age for joining the service from 30 years to 35 years is actually closer to that.”
Referring to the report of the Public Service Commission, the minister said that according to the age and gender-wise statistics of the candidates who passed the 43rd BCS examination, the number of recommended candidates in the younger age group (23-25) is the highest (37.68 percent) and the number of recommended candidates in the older group (above 29) is the lowest (1.71 percent).
The minister also said that the number of vacancies has naturally decreased due to the increase in the retirement age from 57 years to 59 years.
In this context, he said that if the age limit for entering the job is increased, the number of candidates in different jobs will increase at a large rate.
If the age limit is increased those who are currently above 30 years of age will get the opportunity, but there may be disappointment among the candidates below 30 years of age, he added.