The Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) is moving ahead with a roadmap to complete one BCS examination and publish its final results each year.
In line with that plan, the commission is preparing to publish the final results of the 50th BCS by November this year and issue a new circular for the 51st general BCS in the same month.
However, the government’s recent decision to recruit 5,000 physicians through a special BCS has introduced a new equation into the process.
As a result, a major question is now weighing on the minds of jobseekers: will the next BCS be a general one, or a special BCS for physicians?
The viva voce for the 50th BCS is currently under way. The PSC wants to complete it quickly and publish the final results by November as scheduled.
Based on that timeline, the initial plan was to issue the circular for the 51st BCS as a new general-cadre examination in the same month.
However, recently, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Public Administration took special initiatives to increase staffing against vacant posts in government hospitals.
The PSC has received from the government a requisition and specific instructions to recruit 5,000 physicians, including 4,700 assistant surgeons and 300 dental surgeons.
PSC sources have confirmed that the preliminary administrative process for the special BCS began after the commission received the letter.
With two important initiatives now under way at the same time, a degree of uncertainty has emerged among aspiring candidates over the next BCS.
There is now a complication over whether the special BCS, if its requisition is prepared first, will be announced before the general BCS.
Under the rules for numbering BCS examinations, whichever examination’s circular is issued first is expected to be designated as the 51st BCS.
Asked about the matter, PSC Public Relations Officer Matiur Rahman told Prothom Alo that the commission has yet to decide which of the two BCS circulars—the general or the special—will be issued first.
According to him, once the requisition and all preliminary administrative work have been completed, the matter will be reviewed in detail at a commission board meeting.
Following a final decision at that meeting, whichever BCS circular is formally issued first will be designated as the 51st BCS, he added.
One advantage of a special BCS is that it does not involve the lengthy and complicated written examination process. Recruitment can be completed comparatively quickly through only the preliminary examination and viva.
Meanwhile, thousands of aspiring candidates for the general BCS are counting down the days to November. The identity of the 51st BCS will ultimately depend on which of the two examinations the commission prioritises and brings forward first.