Md. Billal Hossain

Bangladesh is a country where almost one-third of the total population is young generation. According to National Youth Policy of Bangladesh "The person whose age is between18 to 35, he/she is considered to be youth". In Bangladesh most of the youth didn`t get the appropriate job as they expect. Actually there are a number of barriers that obstruct the journey of a youth towards a dream job. The prime reason behind this problem is excessive job application fees. Excessive job application fees deepen the woes of the youth. As they are unable to apply for the desired position.

Every year thousands of graduates complete Honors-Masters from different universities. But the problem is, most of the graduates who graduated didn`t get a job. Because the number of vacancies is almost negligible in compared to job seekers. Since the number of posts is very negligible, most of the job seekers jump in to apply for any circular.

This is exactly the tendency of many employers to use it. It takes thousands of money to apply for each job, but the number of posts is very low. The number of job advertisements was greatly reduced during the Coronavirus pandemic. So when the incidence of corona has come down a bit, just then various ministries and agencies of the government have started posting job advertisements.

However, the job application fee in each organization is skyrocketing. A few organizations can be mentioned as examples. For example, in the recently published recruitment circular of Dhaka North City Corporation, the application fee for the post of ninth grade or above has been fixed at Taka 1,120, application fee for the post of 10th grade or equivalent has been fixed at Taka 560. Besides, the fee for applying for the 43rd BCS exam has been fixed at Taka 700. The fee for applying for a job in a medical university has been fixed at Taka 700. The application fee for Bangladesh Bank has been fixed at Tk. 200. Thus, by publishing recruitment notices from each institution, huge sums of money are being taken from the unemployed.

When an unemployed person is applying for a job, government agencies are frustrating young people. Thus when unemployment surrounds a young person, that young person is at the highest level of depression. There are many who are applying for jobs with that money by doing tuition or doing various jobs. Again, there are job seekers who cannot afford to go to Dhaka and sit for the exam, but they have to pay a huge amount of money just to apply for the job, but there is no one to see the misery of them.

During Coronavirus pandemic, the job application fee in the institutions is like a death knell for the unemployed. Most of the job seekers are unemployed youths who are associated with education or have just finished their studies. It is needless to say that they do not have sufficient money in their hands. On the other hand, traveling to Dhaka repeatedly for the purpose of applying for a job and giving a job test, living and eating all together create a very miserable situation in the life of a job-seeking unemployed. As a result, the indomitable dreams are lost in the abyss of time. Dreams are being covered in the cruel cycle of time. In a country where a student`s university life begins by living in a public room, charging extra work fees is nothing but a luxury. It is even a mental torture on the unemployed!

May the good sense of the employers rise and the job examination fees be fixed nominally for the convenience of the job seekers, this is our expectation in the golden jubilee of independence. The youth will build the golden Bangladesh that was the dream of the father of the nation, may this be our tool to move forward in the year of Mujib.

Author: Md. Billal Hossain is the Student of Department of Applied Nutrition and Food Technology at Islamic University, Bangladesh. He can be reached at Email: billalanftiu@gmail.com