The first choice is a government job in Bangladesh

The number of applicants for the preliminary examination in Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) has broken all records of the previous year.

Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC) officials said. They said the number was 200 times higher than the number available.

More than five million employment hopefuls applied for six classes of a government job.

Originally, Class One Gazetted Officers were appointed through the BCS examination. However, the government has started recruiting non-gazetted posts from those who have passed the BCS examination to avoid trouble in recruitment.

Statistics show that more than 8,000 applicants applied for a single post in other government jobs.

Experts believe that despite spending a long time getting government jobs, handsome salaries, and other benefits have played a big role behind the crowds in government jobs.

There are about 2.4 million unemployed graduates in the country. In addition to government jobs, there is a lot of competition for private jobs.

According to employers, there are no employment opportunities in the private sector. But employers claim they are fighting to get qualified candidates.

BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) and BRAC University jointly conducted a youth survey last August.

The survey found that 57 percent of women and 42 percent of men want to get a bachelor's government job.

Ali Imam Majumder, a former cabinet secretary, said young people were interested in government jobs due to the recent addition of various facilities.

He said in the first light that the salary scale in every grade of government service has almost doubled in 2015.

Other benefits and pensions were also raised. There is more protection in government service, added Ali Imam Majumder.

The top bureaucrat noted that the private sector has failed to create employment in line with the reported economic growth.

Referring to BRAC's youth survey, Imran Matin, executive director of BIGD, said most young people look for government jobs until they are old enough.

They choose private employment after the end of the government service age. Moreover, the private sector is being harmed as qualified candidates go for government jobs, he added.  

Insanity over government jobs.

The youths were seen waiting in long queues to enter the public library in Shahbag on a November morning. At least ten young people said they had come to study to prepare for government jobs.

 

Golam Raihan, a graduate of Bangladesh Agricultural University said he had passed the BCS preliminary examination. He regularly comes to the library to prepare for the BCS written exam.

Raihan said Good pay, job security, social acceptance, and pension benefits attract me to government jobs.

Mahbubur Rahman, administrative officer of the library, told Prothom Alo that the number of readers has increased four to five times as compared to five years ago.

Reading rooms, accommodation for to00 to 70,000 readers have just been vacated, he said.

Mahbubur says many readers wait long before the opening hours outside the library and many wait until the reading closes.

The same scene can be seen in the University Library. Ahmed Faisal, a fourth-year BBA student, said he was preparing for BCS from now on.

According to BPSC, the number of applicants for the 26th BCS in 2007 was slightly less than 125,000.

In 2017, the number of applicants for the 38th BCS increased to around 350,000.

The number of applicants has set a new record in the 40th BCS exam with more than 400,000 applicants for about 40,000 posts.

About 216 candidates have prayed for a position. Upon joining, a Class One officer receives a total monthly salary of Rs. 35,000.

BPSC chairman Muhammad Sadiq told Prothom Alo that the confidence of young job seekers has increased due to the smooth recruitment process.

Moreover, the authorities are now trying to recruit non-cadre posts from those who have passed the examination.

Samar Chandra Paul, a former member of BPSC, is responsible for the social acceptance of govt job bd to increase the number of applicants.

In general, the number of applicants for BCS, government primary schools, food departments, public banks, and the drug control department is higher.

Last year, about one million people applied for jobs in the sector against a total of 23,000 posts.

Job application and examination delays

The Department of Narcotics Control issued a notification in 2017 for 242 positions. 900 people applied against one post.

Authorities found even the preliminary election very difficult. Among the vacant posts were nine Sub-Inspectors (SIs). More than 8,500 have applied against the single SI post.

 

The food department last year issued a notification for 1,100 posts. About 1,400 people prayed for each post.

The number of candidates against each assistant food the inspector was about 2,500.

A senior official in the food ministry told Prothom Alo that they had tried repeatedly but failed the test.

Authorities have issued a notice for the recruitment of 11,000 primary school teachers this year where 2.6 million candidates applied.

Fighting to arrange the exams for such a large number of candidates, the authorities postponed the exams five times. Later they had to take the test in four steps on different dates.

Five applicants have passed against each post. Last September, BPSC issued a notification for the recruitment of teachers in government high schools.

118 people applied against each post. In 2018, 1.1 million people applied for more than 7,000 positions in various public banks. The Bankers Selection Committee (BSC) said that many applicants had never applied for a bank job in the past.

Mosharraf Hossain, former head of BSc and general manager of Bangladesh Bank said the number of applicants for the integrated application system has increased. Also, applicants do not have to pay any application fee, which can contribute to the increase.

Pradeep Kumar Dutt, former managing director of Sonali Bank, said that in addition to good salaries and job security, the bank's jobs are attractive because of the variety of loan facilities available to employees as like government job facility.

Unemployment is another reason for the increase in the number of applicants, he added.

Unemployment among educated youth

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Labor Ball Survey 2016 2016-1. There were about 2.7 million unemployed in the year. 90 percent of them are educated and more than 400,000 (15 percent) are university graduates.

About 100% of the unemployed have at least SSC and HSC level education. The International Labor Organization (ILO) reports that the number of unemployed could reach three million this year.

Bangladesh ranks third among eight countries in South Asia in terms of the unemployment rate. A recent survey by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), conducted among 15,000 young people, found that one-third of them were unemployed.

The unemployment rate is higher among undergraduates and postgraduates. About one-third of them are unemployed even after getting good results.

On condition of anonymity, a deputy commissioner said highly qualified candidates apply for lower jobs in the public sector due to job security and social status.

What is the path? Ali Imam Majumder said such a tendency in government service is not a good sign.

The unemployment of educated youth cannot be reduced unless adequate employment is created in the private sector, which will later lead to social instability, he said.

Ali Imam Majumdar also emphasized the need for government initiatives for entrepreneurship. Fahim Mashroor, chief executive of bdjobs.com, said there was more competition in the private sector as well.

About 100,000 to 1.5 lakh candidates applied for 15-20 posts. He added that a large number of job seekers lack qualifications. Fahim said graduates with good academic backgrounds often feel a serious lack of qualifications.

Moinul Islam, Human Resources Director, ACI Limited, has also made a similar report. Jishu Tarafdar, Chief Consultant, Corporate Coach, urged the youth to take training in various computer skills, video editing, and photography besides studying.