Job seekers have warned that they will go for non-violent movement or hunger strike if the age limit for entering the government job is not made 32 years permanently.
They made the demand at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity on Saturday.
The speakers said that, they will wait for the next seven to ten days. If no response is received within this period, there will be no other option left but to go for movement, they said. In a written statement, the agitating job seekers said, “We have expressed our desire to concerned officials. We have also held a two-day press conference here. On the second day of the parliamentary session, we held a silent rally on Parliament premises demanding the age limit to be 32 years. Yet, no answers were given from the concerned officials.”
They said that the concerned officials should realize that increasing the age of job applicants permanently by two years to 32 years would give them back their lost time.
Regarding yesterday's incident they said, “We took position on the road in a non-violent manner despite being the victim of baton charge. We did not do anything against the government. The Constitution has given the citizens the rights to assemble and participate in processions.”
The agitated students wanted to take position on the main road of Shahbagh but did not stay there for more than 10 minutes at the request of the police officers, especially considering the issue of public sufferings.
“No one was arrested yesterday. Law enforcement officers detained two of the students, who were released later”, they added.
They mentioned that the age limit for entering government service was increased from 27 to 30 in 1991. At that time the average life expectancy was 57 years. In these 30 years, the average life expectancy has increased to 73 years, but the age limit for entering the job has not increased, they said.
During this pandemic period, the number of job advertisements has come down from 87 to 13 percent.
Unemployment rate has risen from 20 to 35 percent. One and a half lakh job seekers have been affected during this period. They said that this rate will increase further.
