New rules boost oral exam marks in govt jobs

Under new government recruitment rules for third and fourth-class positions (Grades 11-20), oral exam marks are being increased while written exams marks are being reduced.

Ministry of Public Administration claims that such an initiative has been taken to prevent proxy (fake) examinees in recruitment exams.

However, experts are unwilling to accept the claim as oral exam marks are usually increased to recruit preferred candidates. This will create opportunities for irregularities and corruption in recruitment, and will increase favoritism and politicization.

Secretaries Committee on Administrative Development held a meeting on Sunday at the Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani chaired the meeting.

At that meeting, the draft of the “Rules for Distribution of Marks (Special Provisions) for Direct Recruitment to Grades 11-20 in Directorates, Departments, Offices, and Agencies under Ministries or Divisions, 2026” was approved.

Several officials present at the meeting confirmed the matter to Agamir Somoy.

According to the current provision, excluding technical posts, 70 percent marks are set for the written exam and 30 percent for the oral exam in the recruitment of third and fourth class posts in the administration.

In accordance with that, recruitment has been going on in these posts in the administration for a long time. There are 13,24,343 approved posts in this tier.

Under the new rules, three tiers have been kept for direct recruitment to grades 11-20. These are:

• Grades 11-12: Out of 150 marks, 50 marks are for the oral exam. The remaining 100 marks of the written exam will contain Bengali 25, English 25, Mathematics 25, and relevant technical/general knowledge 25.
• Grades 13-16: In the 100-mark exam, the written exam is 60 marks and the oral exam is 40 marks. The distribution of written exam marks is Bengali 15, English 15, Mathematics 15, and relevant technical/general knowledge 15.
• Grades 17-20: In the 50-mark exam, there is a written exam of 25 marks and an oral exam of 25 marks. Out of the 25 written marks, there are Bengali 10, English 5, Mathematics 5, and relevant technical/general knowledge 5.

In technical recruitment, if a candidate passes the written exam, they must also pass the practical exam. Only after passing these two exams can they participate in the oral exam. If they do not pass the oral exam, they will not be considered.

However, the proposed rules will not apply to the law enforcement forces, police force, BGB, Ansar and Village Defense Party, Ansar Battalion, Coast Guard, RAB, or any other force, or any post under the Public Service Commission.

Mentioning the background of the formulation of the new rules, the summary sent to the Secretaries Committee said, “Recently, it has been observed that during recruitment activities of various institutions in ministries or divisions and directorates, departments, offices, and agencies under them, a number of candidates, instead of participating themselves, are trying to secure jobs by adopting various unfair means (such as proxy candidates, use of artificial intelligence, and various electronic devices).

“As a result, a risk of securing jobs by unqualified candidates instead of actual qualified candidates is being created, which is hampering the fair recruitment process.”

However, administration experts commented that if such a decision is taken, favoritism and corruption will increase. According to them, this was done in the past as well in BCS. After Saadat Husain became the chairman of the PSC, the BCS oral exam marks were reduced from 200 to 100.

Later, the Awami League came to power and increased it back to 200 marks. During the interim government, on 11 December 2024, the BCS oral exam marks were reduced again from 200 to 100 through a special gazette, which is still in effect.  

Apart from this, in the primary school teacher recruitment, the oral exam was reduced from 20 marks to 10.

Public Administration Expert Md Firoz Mia told Agamir Somoy, “Oral exam marks are usually increased to recruit people of choice. If oral exam marks are increased, corruption in recruitment will reach extreme levels. Higher oral exam marks mean giving opportunities for corruption. This will lead to unskilled people entering government jobs.”

On the other hand, regarding building a “Meritocracy’s Bangladesh”, BNP’s election manifesto said, “Merit, honesty, creativity, competence, experience, and training will be considered the only criteria for recruitment, transfer, and promotion in civil and military administration. It will also be ensured that no one is unfairly deprived.”