Students threaten protests, deadline government to raise maximum job age limit

A group of students have threatened the government with fresh protests if it does not increase the maximum age limit for entry to public sector jobs within Jan 25.

The jobseekers, organised under the umbrella of Sarbadaliya Chhatra Oikya Parishad, held a news conference in Dhaka on Tuesday to protest against a previous “attack by police on demonstrators”.

The government has “compelled” them to take to the streets time and again, said Imtiaz Hossain, a spokesman for the protesters.

“We’re giving the government an ultimatum. Increase the maximum age limit for entering jobs within Jan 25 or else, we’ll announce fresh protests across the country,” he told the authorities.

The students have been demonstrating for a long time to demand an increase in the maximum employment age limit, said Manik Hossain, secretary of the council. They submitted memorandums to several government agencies, but never heard from them, he said.

On Sunday, police attacked them during a protest at Nilkhet and Mirpur, injuring at least 50 students, according to Manik. “They detained 17 protesters, including me, and later released us. We strongly condemn this act.”

The maximum age for entry into public service currently is 30 years, while for the descendants of freedom fighters, it is 32 years.

The group of students also demand measures to end corruption and fraud in the recruitment process, the publication of the marks obtained by candidates in the test results, and a maximum fee of Tk 100 for job application.

The protesters also called on the authorities to introduce an integrated recruitment examination system instead of holding multiple tests at the same time.

As the recruitment processes were stalled amid the pandemic, the government provided special provision to those who crossed the age limit on Mar 25, 2020 to apply for government jobs in last September.

They were given another chance to apply to all government jobs advertised until Dec 31, 2022, as the pandemic lingered.

The Ministry of Public Administration issued a notice on Aug 19 last year which mentioned a retrospective effect to offer a relaxation of the age limit rule, that turned out to be a “farce”, said Taslima Lima, coordinator of the protesters. She said it was a discriminatory act against all students, as they lost two academic years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Therefore, no options remain open other than permanently increasing the age limit to enter the job market.”

She highlighted the Awami League's 2018 election manifesto, which said that reasonable measures would be taken to increase the age limit for government jobseekers, but said that it was never implemented. “The young people demand a quick implementation of the election manifesto,” Lima said.