Proposal to complete BCS exam, recruitment in one and a half years

The recruitment process for the 41st Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) took nearly four and a half years, and for the 43rd BCS, it took four years and two months. This prolonged process has been ongoing for many years. In light of this situation, the Public Administration Reform Commission has recommended that the BCS exam be completed and recruitment finalised within one and a half years.

The Commission's recommendation states that the BCS exam should be completed within a year, with the remaining six months dedicated to finalising the recruitment process. To facilitate this, an annual calendar or schedule for the preliminary, written, oral, and psychological exams has been proposed.

Additionally, the commission has suggested major changes to the BCS syllabus. The commission also recommended restructuring the current Public Service Commission (PSC) into three separate PSCs.

Currently, completing the BCS exam and recruitment process takes between three and four years. Due to the delays in the exam process and the uncertainty of results, many BCS candidates are forced to prepare for and appear in three to four exams simultaneously.

Given the higher benefits and social status associated with BCS jobs, job aspirants are particularly drawn to these positions. As a result, many young people, after finishing their studies, spend a significant portion of their lives preparing for the BCS exam.

The full report from the Public Administration Reform Commission contains detailed analysis and recommendations on the BCS exam process. The report was published last Saturday on the website of the Cabinet Division, along with full reports from six other reform commissions. The commission’s head, Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, submitted the report to Chief Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus last Wednesday.

The Reform Commission’s report details the timeline for the 41st BCS recruitment. The recruitment notice for the 41st BCS was issued in November 2019. The preliminary exam was held in March 2021, 15 months after the notice was issued, with results announced in August 2021. The preliminary exam results took five months to be published. Meanwhile, for the MBBS admission exam, which uses the MCQ method, nearly three lakh students' results were published in just three days.

The written exam for the 41st BCS took place between 19 November and 7 December 2021, and the results were announced in November 2022. This means it took nearly a year to publish the written exam results. The viva voce exam was concluded in June 2023, and final recommendations for recruitment were made in July of the same year. In total, it took nearly three years and eight months to issue the final recommendations after the announcement of the recruitment notice. After this, further verification of the initially selected candidates took an additional nine months, and the government issued the recruitment gazette in March 2024. The entire recruitment process for the 41st BCS took about four and a half years.

The report also presents a comparative study of India's civil service recruitment process. In India, the 2023 Central Civil Services exam notification was released on 1 February of that year. The preliminary exam was held in May, with results announced in June. The written exam was held from 15 June to 24 June, with results published in December. The final viva voce exam took place from 2 January to 16 February of the following year. This entire process was completed within one year.

The Reform Commission notes that the PSC unnecessarily wastes a significant amount of time, causing a loss of valuable time, talent, and effort for millions of young people. Currently, no fixed schedule or calendar is followed for the BCS exam, which causes delays in the exam process and result announcements. The longest recruitment process in the world is Bangladesh's civil service recruitment process.

In this context, the commission recommends establishing a fixed timeline for completing the government recruitment process. The PSC should issue the recruitment notice in the second week of January each year, followed by the preliminary exam in the first week of April. The results of the preliminary exam should be announced in the first week of May. The written exam should be held in the second half of June for 10 days, with results published in the second week of December. The viva voce and psychological exams should be held from the first week of January to the second week of February of the following year. The final results should be published in the third week of April. Health checks and police clearance should be done in the third week of May, with recruitment orders issued in the second week of June. The recruited officials should join their posts by 1 July. The commission recommends completing the entire recruitment process within one and a half years.

The commission's report also highlights a negative aspect of the BCS exam process, where many candidates who pass the exam and receive recommendations from the PSC are not recruited. Examples of such cases have been pointed out. The commission has suggested that, after passing the BCS exam, the public administration ministry should only ask the police for a report on any criminal cases against the candidates before final recruitment. If necessary, the ministry can also request reports from the Anti-Corruption Commission. The commission has also recommended canceling police verification procedures for matters like passports, dual citizenship, and the formation of boards for social welfare organizations and NGOs. If a citizen has a national identity card and related documents, the commission recommends that their issues be settled without further delay.

Currently, candidates who pass the preliminary exam must take a 900-mark written exam. The 26 cadres are divided into general and technical/professional categories. The general category candidates take exams in Bengali (200 marks), English (200 marks), Bangladesh Affairs (200 marks), International Affairs (100 marks), Mathematical Logic and Mental Ability (100 marks), and General Science and Technology (100 marks). The technical or professional category candidates take exams in Bengali (100 marks), English (200 marks), Bangladesh Affairs (200 marks), International Affairs (100 marks), Mathematical Logic and Mental Ability (100 marks), and subject-specific exams (200 marks).

The commission recommends six mandatory subjects with the following revised distribution: Bengali (100 marks), English (100 marks), English composition (100 marks), Bangladesh Constitution, History, Heritage, and Culture (100 marks), International and Current Affairs (100 marks), and General Science and Technology, Society and Environment, and Geography (100 marks). In addition to these mandatory subjects, six optional subjects (each 100 marks) could be included from subjects taught at the university level, such as Arts, Social Science, Physical Science, Commerce, and Law.

However, no candidate can select more than two subjects from the same group. The commission has also recommended that candidates must score at least 60 per cent to pass both the written and viva voce exams. Any candidate who fails the exam three times in a row will be barred from taking the exam again.

Currently, 26 BCS cadres are recruited through the PSC exam. The Reform Commission has recommended dividing these cadres into 13 services, with three separate PSCs for recruitment and promotion. Each PSC would have eight members, including the chairperson. Separate PSCs for education and health services would be established, named PSC (Education) and PSC (Health), while a PSC (General) would handle the remaining services.

Currently, there is one PSC for both BCS cadre and non-cadre recruitment.
Regarding these proposed changes, the chairman of the PSC, Professor Mobasher Monem, told Prothom Alo that there are currently significant delays in the BCS exam process. Once these delays are resolved, the exam could be completed in 14 months. He also mentioned that the government would likely consider these recommendations, and the PSC is also thinking about changes.

*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam