Public Administration Reform Committee chairman Abdul Moeed Chaudhary says that in view of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and session jams in universities, raising the entry age for government jobs seems ‘appropriate’.

Moeed has also been appointed as the convener of the committee on recommendations for raising the age limit of applicants for public sector jobs.

Speaking to the media after meeting the student protesters on Wednesday, he said the committee would recommend raising the age limit in the next seven working days.

“This committee has only one focus – to review the age of entry for government jobs. The issue has been protesting for a long time. We met the protestors. We discussed the government’s current policies, future strategies and the overall situation. will consider and make a recommendation. There is no doubt that the age limit will be increased,” he said.

“People faced various difficulties, including COVID, session jams and other issues. The age of admission should be increased now,” he said when asked the reason for raising the age limit.

Rasul Al-Mahmoud, a representative of the protesters, said they had a “fruitful discussion” with the review committee.

“They listened to us carefully. We will wait for their decision till next week.”

At present the maximum age for entry into government jobs is 30 years. For the past few years, students and job seekers have been agitating to raise the age limit to 35 years. However, the Awami League government rejected this demand several times.

The Awami League government fell on August 5 as a result of the Awami movement. The interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus took charge on August 8. The change of government sparked a new round of protests by various groups whose demands were not met under the previous administration. Age limit protesters are among them.

On Monday, they gathered outside the residence of Chief Adviser Yunus and were stopped by the police. Later the government set up a ‘high profile’ review committee to consider raising the entry age limit for government jobs.