Job aspirants in trouble as two exams coincide on Friday

Job aspirants are facing a predicament as two major recruitment exams — assistant teachers in government primary schools and senior officers (general) in banks — are scheduled for the same day.

The first phase recruitment test for government primary school assistant teacher posts in Rangpur, Barishal, and Sylhet divisions will be held on 8 December from 10 am to 11 am. A total of 3,60,697 candidates will appear for the exam.

Following the release of the assistant teacher exam date, the bankers selection committee has announced the written exam for the post of senior officer on the same day.

According to the Bangladesh Bank website, 922 senior officer (general) vacancies in 10 banks and non-bank financial institutions will be filled through a written exam on 8 December from 10 am to 12 pm in six centres of two city corporations in Dhaka. The total number of candidates is 10,574.

The scheduling conflict has caused frustration among many job aspirants who were hoping to take both exams.

A job seeker, Arafat Hossain, expressed his frustration and blamed the lack of coordination between the recruiting organisations for the scheduling clash. He criticised the authorities' irresponsibility in scheduling two crucial job exams on the same day, especially amidst the ongoing hartal and blockades.

“It's like they're playing pranks on job seekers. Almost all job seekers apply for both bank and primary school jobs, yet we are being deliberately wronged,” he added.

Another job seeker, Masum Ahmed, echoed the statement, saying the primary teacher exam date was already set for 8 December, and the subsequent announcement of the bank exam on the same day caught many off guard.

"We are requesting a change to this schedule," he said.

Director of bankers selection committee secretariat Saidur Rahman Khan said the centre for the written examination of the post of senior officer has already been fixed, and the seat arrangement has also been announced. So there is no scope to postpone this exam.

An official of the Directorate of Primary Education told Prothom Alo on the condition of anonymity, "The first phase of the primary school assistant teacher exam date has already been postponed twice. All our preparations for the 8 December exam are in the final stage. We can't delay this exam.”