350,000 vacancies in govt jobs: Speedy recruitment process required

Hundreds of thousands of youths in the country are struggling to find employments or many of them are living miserable life abroad by giving in to the temptations of lucrative job. In such situation the vacancy of over 350,000 posts in different government offices is not only unusual but also unwarranted.

State minister for public administration Farhad Hossain recently in a speech in the Jatiya Sangsad said, there are 358,125 vacant posts for civilian manpower in different ministries, divisions, departments, directorates and offices. Among those, 43,336 are first class posts, 40,561 second class, 151,548 third and 122,680 fourth class posts.

According to the data of public administration ministry, the number of government posts in the country is 1,913,052. Manpower structure is created for the smooth operations of the administration. Having such a large number of posts (over one-fifth) vacant for years indicates the government offices are not functioning they way it should. On the other hand, people also face difficulties in getting services.

Naturally new recruitment in public and private offices was halted during the pandemic. Despite the end of the pandemic, why the recruitment process for vacant positions is so slow? The state minister for public administration said that the recruitment process is ongoing. Why has the number of vacancies increased since 2020 then? There were 334,000 vacant posts at the time. Policymakers must keep this in mind that recruiting new people during the covid period was stopped, not retirements.

Earlier, prime minister sheikh Hasina had directed to fulfill vacant posts as soon as possible in the meeting with secretaries in 2017 and 2018. Several letters were also issued from the Prime Minister's Office to each secretary to fill the vacant posts. As covid pandemic halted the recruitment process, the Ministry of Public Administration had given instructions to fill vacant posts by increasing the age limit. However, it is unfortunate that the vacant posts in various ministries, departments and directorates are not filled as yet. The most concerning matter is the maximum number of vacant posts are in the health ministry.

There are 74,574 vacant posts in offices and organisations under this ministry. There are 44,820 posts vacant in offices and organisations under the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education. Each ministry and department have such vacancies.

According to the data, maximum number of vacancies are in third class posts. First class officers are recruited through BCS examination. Thousands of candidates take part in each BCS exams but only 2000 or a little more than that are recruited. Where would the students who graduate from the university every year go? Employment opportunities in the private sector are also limited due to the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

In this situation, the vacant posts at government offices should be filled up on priority basis. Thousands of youths then will be freed from the menace of unemployment and public services will be easier to access. We hope the policymakers will be aware of this.