It is not only unusual but also inhumane that the recruitment process for 1,080 posts of family welfare inspectors (female) in the Directorate General of Family Planning under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been stuck for more than three and a half years.
The recruitment circular for the 1,080 family welfare inspectors (female) was published on 10 March 2020. However, the process did not complete even over the subsequent three and a half years.
Only female candidates were allowed to apply for the posts, and after 18 months of training, the selected candidates were supposed to be engaged at the field level in the union health and family welfare centres, maternal health, child health, reproductive health, family planning, nutrition, pregnant mothers, and general patient care facilities.
Healthcare aspirants are being deprived as the large number of inspector positions have been vacant for years.
According to a Prothom Alo report, a total of 7,621 female candidates are awaiting the final results, with many of them already married. One of the conditions for appointment to the posts is the submission of a certificate of physical fitness and a declaration of not being pregnant by the district civil surgeon. The appointment will be canceled if a candidate is found to be expecting.
The condition no. 7 of the recruitment circular states that one cannot be pregnant at the time of joining the service.
There cannot be any employment condition that undermines the fundamental rights of women.
But this condition contradicts the fundamental rights of women as enshrined in Article 29(1) of the Constitution, which guarantees equal opportunities for appointment or promotion in public service.
It is certain that not all those who appeared in the viva voce will get the job. The unsuccessful candidates could try other jobs after being dropped from the final list. But it is unknown who has been eliminated as the final result is yet to be published.
Demanding the final result, more than a hundred candidates from across the country held a human chain in front of the family planning directorate in the capital’s Karwan Bazar area on Sunday. They demanded that the final result be published within seven days.
How far is the ministry from the family planning directorate? When the viva voce took place a few months ago, why will the results be stuck in the ministry? Why did the ministry officials not publish the results after receiving them?
It is necessary to find out whether there is any mystery. A recruitment process cannot take more than three years to complete. Not everyone who attended the viva voce will get the job. However, it is not possible to determine, before the publication of the result, who is getting the job and who is not.
Not only in the family planning directorate, but also in many other government offices, irregularities and delays in result publication are occurring frequently during job recruitment examinations.
Besides the manipulation by vested interests, the arbitrariness of officials in the relevant departments is also responsible for this.
We hope that the authorities will come to their senses, especially after the human chain formed by job seekers. The final results should be released promptly, and the qualified candidates should be given the opportunity to start their work.
Additionally, those found responsible for the delay should be held accountable.