State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain on Tuesday told Parliament that the government has no plan to raise the maximum age limit for taking up government jobs.

Defending the government’s stance, he said if the age limit is raised, the competition will intensify creating a frustration among the jobseekers aged below 30 amid the low vacant posts.

“Right now the government has no plan to raise the age limit for entering the government services,” said the state minister replying to a tabled question from BNP MP Mosharof Hosen (Bogura-4).

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Farhad said now there is no serious session jams in different educational institutes, including universities, as in the past when a student normally completed SSC at the age of 16 years, HSC at 18 years and graduation at 23-24 years. The students get some 6-7 years in hand to apply for government jobs, he said.

If a candidate applies for a job within 30, the time of recruitment process is not counted in that case, he said adding that it takes one-two years to complete the recruitment process.

The state minister said the number of vacant posts has recently declined normally as the retirement age limit was increased to 59 years from 57 years.

If the age limit for entering government services is raised, the number of candidates against different posts will significantly go up and thus it will create huge competition, he said.

“If those who are above 30 get the scope to apply for government jobs, it may frustrate the candidates aged below 30,” Farhad added.

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He, however, said all the ministries or divisions and their subordinate departments and agencies, as well as statutory, autonomous and nationalised bodies that could not publish job circulars to make direct recruitment to government services against different categories (except BCS) due to the Covid-19 situation, have been requested to allow the applicants who crossed 30 on and after March 25, 2020 in their job circulars to be published by December 31, 2021.

He said the agencies and bodies were requested to fix March 25, 2020 as the last date to count the 30-year age limit of the applicants in their job circulars (except BCS) to be published by December 31 next.