At least 20 job seekers, including women, were injured in police action to break up their demonstration in Shahbagh demanding an extension of the age limit to apply for government jobs. The protesters under the banner of ‘Chakri Pratyashi Jubo Projonmo’ gathered at the Shahbagh intersection around 2 pm on Friday to press home their demands, including extension of the age limit to 35 from the existing 30, but police asked them to leave. As the job seekers did not move, police chased them and charged them with batons to disperse them, said Rezwana Bindu from Jagannath University's economics department.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) claimed to have arrested six members of a fraud ring from Dhaka's Mirpur as they swindled a large sum of money from job seekers with false promises. The accused are Md Masum Billah, 33, Khairul Alam Rocky, 20, Md Kamruzzaman, 22, Md Mahmudul Hasan, 32, Masud Rana, 24, and SM Raihan, 24. Rab also seized cash, eight mobile phones, SIM cards, fake appointment letters; a keyboard, CPU, monitor, laptop, and resumes of job seekers during its drive Wednesday, Superintendent of Police Bina Rani Das of Rab-3 said Thursday. Read: 6 fraud gang members involved in making 144 types of fake certificates held The arrestees published fake advertisements for different jobs – including those of security guards, assistant supervisors, and marketing officers – on social media using the name SSF Private Company. The fraudsters told the police that they were also deceived by fake job advertisements on social media before making a profession out of it. Legal actions will be taken against the arrestees, Bina Rani said.

A group of job seekers of Rajshahi University on Monday demanded the recruitment test for appointing 45000 assistant teachers in the primary schools be held centrally in Dhaka. They came up with the demand at a press conference held at Rajshahi University central library on Monday noon. In a written statement, the former and current students of the university said in the previous years, there have been many irregularities including question paper leakage and proxy examinees in the exams, which were held at the district level.  If the primary teacher recruitment test is held at the district level, there could be terrible corruption, they said. READ: Job seekers of state banks, FI urge panel result publication  The job seekers said an insidious group tries to take the recruitment test at the district level at any cost. By doing so, they want to leak the question papers or occupy the centre to facilitate the recruitment of their designated ineligible candidates. If the examination is held centrally in Dhaka, then the authority will be able to complete the primary teacher recruitment examination neatly as well as all other job examinations.

Demanding the result publication of third panel (fourth) phase, officers (General) 2017 of five banks, state owned and financial institutions, the job seekers organized a human chain in front of Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday. They urged immediate publication of the result of the combined examination which was taken by the Bankers' Selection Committee, a wing of the central bank. The five integrated banks and financial institutions include state-owned Sonali Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and Bangladesh Development Bank (BDBL). Several hundreds of job seekers took part in the human chain. They said the final results have been published in three phases (merit list and two panels) against 2,564 posts of general officers of five integrated banks and financial institutions by the Bankers' Selection Committee Secretariat. They claimed, “As provided by the concerned institutions, as far as we know, even after giving the merit list and two panels, more than 350 posts are still vacant." READ: Govt. promotes 21 DMDs in state banks to meet manpower shortage Five banks and financial institutions have already sent their demand letters to the Bankers' Selection Committee Secretariat to fill the vacancies. In this situation, the job seekers are demanding appointments from the third panel (4th phase). They said the recruitment process had been delayed for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation. A large portion of the candidates who took part in the oral examination have passed the age limit for applying for the job. They do not have the opportunity to apply for any new recruitment test. Considering the age of the job candidates and Covid-19 situation they appealed to the concerned people including the Governor of Bangladesh Bank to publish the results of the third panel.

The ministry of public administration has proposed to increase the maximum age limit to enter government jobs by 21 months from current limit of 30 years due to prolonged academic life caused by Covid-19 restrictions. The proposal has been sent to the prime minister, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told reporters at the Secretariat on Thursday. Read: Age limit relaxed for govt jobs except BCS He said, “We have taken several initiatives for people of different classes and professions to make up for the loss caused by corona. A new proposal for government job seekers has been sent to the prime minister. “ “We did the same last year. We relaxed the age limit allowing candidates who turned 30 after March 25 to apply for government jobs.” Farhad also said those who turned 30 on March 25 last year (2020) will also get the benefit. He said they will get age exemption up to 21 months. It's a big deal. If the Prime Minister approves, we will issue a notification in this regard.” At present the age limit for entry into government service is 30 years, which is 32 years for the children of freedom fighters. Read: Age limit in govt jobs likely to be eased for pandemic: Ministry The government increased the age limit by five months in the first phase of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. Asked what the government's next strategy would be if the corona infection situation deteriorates further, Farhad,” We will consider both strategies. We may impose a lockdown if needed but also brainstorm about how to restrict transmission without enforcing strict restrictions considering the economy and livelihood.”

The government is going to provide soft skills training to 500,000 jobseekers and employees within the next five years, aiming to improve their employability skills. “The demand for soft skilled and trained people will substantially be increased over the next decades as huge jobs will be transformed by technology,” State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said on Saturday. He said the government in partnership with a reputed global organization will provide the quality soft skills training to students, jobseekers, employees, self-employed individuals and freelancers to enhance their personal ability to get and keep a job. Also read: ICT division to digitize 73 libraries, says Palak Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under ICT Division in partnership with Wadhani Operating Foundation (WoF), a US-based nonprofit public benefit corporation, will provide the training online under BCC’s training platform `www.bdskills.gov.bd’. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between BCC and WoF last week (1 August 2021) to complete the soft skills training programme by 2026.  

The job seekers have once again demanded an increase in the maximum age limit for government jobs to 35 years and a reduction of application fee.