Admin, education cadres strongly disagree with recommendations of reform commission

Officials of the administration and education cadres in the Bangladesh Civil Service have strongly objected to two recommendations made by the public administration reform commission.

Officials from the administration cadre said they will not accept the recommendation to appoint 50% of deputy secretaries from administration cadres and another 50% from the rest.

Education cadre officials, on the other hand, disagree with the commission's proposed recommendation of removing education and health cadres from the cadre system.

On Tuesday (17 December), head of the Commission Abdul Mueed Chowdhury and Member-Secretary of the Commission and Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration Md Mokhles Ur Rahman laid out some recommendations at a view exchange meeting with journalists at the ministry.

The recommendations include – promotions to the positions of deputy secretary and additional secretary through exams, allocation of 50% of deputy secretary posts for administration cadres and another 50% for officials from other cadres, keeping education and heath cadres out of the cadre system, obliterating police verification system during recruitment in government jobs and making Cumilla and Faridpur separate divisions.

The Commission is set to submit their recommendations to the government within 31 December.

Right after the Commission's meeting, the Bangladesh Administrative Service Association (BASA) held an emergency meeting at the Bangladesh Institute of Administration and Management (BIAM) Auditorium in the capital on Tuesday night, where the officials disagreed with the Commission's recommendation and said they want allocation of 75% deputy secretary posts for themselves and 25% for officials from other cadres, an admin official said seeking anonymity.

According to the Ministry of Public Administration, a total of 1,599 officials are working as deputy secretaries at present.

Meanwhile, many officials from the education cadre reacted to the Commission's recommendation on social media, with one official writing, "I thought the discrimination between cadres would be eliminated. But now they are trying to remove the education cadre altogether."

In a statement published today (18 December), the BCS General Education Association, a platform for the officials from the education cadre, rejected the Commission's recommendation to keep the education cadre separated from the cadre service.