Protesters block Shahbagh intersection, demand extending govt job age limit to 35

Protesters have blocked the busy Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka demanding to increase the age limit for entering government jobs to 35 years.

The prescheduled gathering was initiated in front of the National Museum in Shahbagh at 11 am on Saturday.

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, convener of Nagorik Oikya, joined the program to express solidarity. He said, "It will become like a dictionary to talk about the number of irregularities in the recruitment of government jobs in Bangladesh."

Photo: Md. Rakibul Hasan/UNB

He also said, "The movement we were a part of was not just to overthrow the government. We have said that it is a movement to change the country, a movement to change misrule. The main goal of our movement was to remove discrimination from the country. The interim government is trying to handle everything nicely. I think our country is changing,” he added.

The protesters said that the maximum age limit for applying for government jobs in Bangladesh was raised from 27 to 30 years in 1991. The average life expectancy of people in Bangladesh was 57 years at that time. Currently, the average life expectancy of people in Bangladesh has increased to 73 years. Therefore, it is logical to increase the age limit for applying for jobs.

In 2011, the retirement age was increased from 57 to 59 years due to an increase in average life expectancy. But, instead of raising the age limit for entry into employment, it is kept at 30 years, due to which educated youths remain unemployed and this number is increasing gradually.