Protesters at Shahbagh renew call for 35-year age bar for entry to govt jobs

They rally at the capital's Shahbagh to press for their demand despite allegedly facing police resistance

Protesters have once again rallied in Dhaka to demand that the maximum age limit for entry to public sector jobs be raised to 35.

They began gathering in Shahbagh around 10am on Wednesday. Despite facing police resistance, the rally eventually started at 11am.

At the same time, members of the Jubo Dal, the BNP’s youth affiliate, were seen preparing for a separate rally outside the National Museum.The protesters claimed they were met with a heavy-handed response from law enforcement, who used water cannons to disperse them as they marched from Shahbagh to the Education Building.

They added that the police asked them to move their rally to TSC, citing concerns over disruptions as another gathering was scheduled to take place in Shahbagh.

Protest organisers insisted that they had received permission from the Shahbagh Police Station to hold their rally. However, the police said that although an application had been submitted, no official approval was granted.

Md Rafiqul Islam, a protester, said, “I came from Faridpur today for this rally. Now, police are trying to prevent us from gathering. We can’t come to Dhaka from so far away every day.”

“The aim of this new Bangladesh is to build a merit-based nation, so why impose age restrictions? I don’t understand this contradiction.”

Roman Sana, a spokesperson for the protesters, said, "Today, we faced police obstruction in our rally for a fair demand. When we marched from Shahbagh to the Education Building, police used water cannons against us."

On Oct 24, the interim government announced its decision to raise the age bar for entry to government jobs by two years to 32. Additionally, it restricted the number of attempts at the BCS exams to three.

However, the coordination council of students pushing for the age threshold to be raised to 35 rejected the government’s decision.

The movement to raise the age bar for government jobs to 35 years has been ongoing for over a decade. But the demand was rejected several times by the erstwhile Awami League government.

The issue gained renewed traction after the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina administration by a student-led mass uprising in August, with the interim government indicating that it was more open to the idea.

A committee was formed to review the situation and recommend an age limit in consideration of the current state of the country and its realities.

The committee then recommended raising the age limit for entry to government jobs to 35 for men and 37 for women. But, the interim government eventually decided to increase the age limit by two years.