Job enthusiasm shapes Tk600cr book market

Infographic: TBS

Preparations for jobs after graduation – mostly for the government ones – has shaped a vibrant book market in Bangladesh.

The market size of job preparation books in the country now stands at more than Tk600 crore. And it is getting increasingly bigger with more than 10 lakh graduates entering the workforce every year.

With a desire to be first-class government job holders, a very big portion of job-seekers study all day to prepare for the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination administered by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC).

As the syllabus for the BCS exams is designed with fundamentals related to Bangladesh's history, Bangla and English literature, the Liberation War, general knowledge, general maths, mental ability, and others, a job aspirant needs to buy and commit to memory at least 15-20 books to gear up for the job battle.

If the average price of each book is Tk300, a job-seeker has to spend Tk5,000-6,000 per set of books.

Besides, job-seekers need to buy many newspapers and current affairs magazines to stay up to date with local, national, and global events.

Moreover, preparations for other government jobs and jobs in state-owned as well as private sector banks require specific sets of books.

According to sources, MP3 Publications, Professors Publications, and Oracle Publications dominate the market of job preparation books.

The craze for government jobs is insane in the country and, therefore, students start preparing for the BCS exams even before they complete their graduation.

Take, for example, the daily routine of Abir (not his real name), a third-year student of the social science faculty at Dhaka University who stays at a university dormitory.

He wakes up as early as six o'clock in the morning. After taking a bath, and completing other necessary tasks, he leaves for the university central library with some books in his bags.

The library opens at 8am, but he reaches there one and a half hours earlier as the number of seats at the library is too low to accommodate a large number of government job enthusiasts like Abir who throng the library every day.

Out of 13 hours from 8am to 9pm every weekday, he spends more than 10 hours studying for job preparation at the library. He leaves the library only to join classes at his department and returns soon after the classes end.

He takes his breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks at different food shops, cafeterias, and hall canteens.

Abir's case is not unique. In fact, most university students who aspire to become first-class government employees maintain a similar routine.

Mamun Book House, an approximately nine-square-foot bookshop in Nilkhet that sells job-related books, is very popular among job-seekers.

While on a visit to the shop recently, The Business Standard found the shop, which stands along the road, jam-packed with buyers.

One of the owners of the book shop told TBS that they sell several lakh taka worth of books every day, with BCS-centric books dominating the sales.

Md Mohibur Rahman, one of the owners of Oracle Publications, told TBS that Oracle has achieved job-seekers' faith.

"We were in trouble during the Covid-19 pandemic as publications of job circulars were sparse since 2020. We hope our sales will go up as the pandemic situation is now stable," he said.

Md Sohel Rana, senior manager of MP3, told TBS that the demand for their job preparation books is rising day by day.

"We printed 5,000-7,000 sets of books even some years ago. Now we have a target to print about 50,000 sets if the pandemic does not become worse in the future," he said.

Books for BCS preliminary exams in high demand

To take good preparations for the preliminary examination, the first step for entering BCS, every job-seeker needs at least 10 books.

According to publishers, books for BCS preliminary tests are best sellers, because a large number of candidates can take part in this first phase of the exams.

Those who want to prepare well for the exams sometimes buy more than one set of books from separate publishing houses, they added.

Normally, several lakh candidates participate in BCS preliminary exams, but 20,000-25,000 qualify for the next stage of the examination and they buy books for the written tests.

Again, some others who think they will pass the preliminary examination and will get an opportunity to take part in the written examinations buy books in advance to prepare for the written examinations, said publishers.

Noman Hossain, a second-year student of the Department of Government and Politics at Jahangirnagar University, told TBS that his main target is to be part of the BCS cadre and that is why he has bought a set of MP3 books. He has also collected some other books related to the job exams.

"I read and try to commit to memory the contents of the books besides my academic studies. But I give priority to studying job-related books. Many of my friends are doing the same thing," he said.

BCS examinees on the rise

Education observers said about 80% of university graduates in the country primarily try to get government jobs, especially the BCS.

As many as 2,21,575 candidates took part in the 34th BCS examinations against 2,052 posts in 2013.

Just seven years later, the number of applicants rose to 4,75,000 – the highest in the history of Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) exams.

Even though many job-seekers crossed the age limit for entering government jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic and many students could not complete their graduation for the same reason, the number of BCS applicants was almost the same in the 43rd and 44th BCS exams.

What experts say?

Syed Manzoorul Islam, former professor of English at Dhaka University, told TBS, "That a good number of students are preparing themselves for BCS since the beginning of their student life instead of focusing on academic studies is worrying."

"University students should concentrate on research, but unfortunately they are busy with job-related studies. It is a very unpleasant situation that students at Dhaka University library study guide books as part of their job preparations."

Professor Siddiqur Rahman, former director of the Institute of Education and Research at Dhaka University, told TBS that higher education should be research-based.

"Students should be busy with research. But our students are busy memorising guidebooks for getting jobs. It should be stopped," he said.

He also recommended that job-related exams are designed in a way that they assess candidates' creative skills.