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● Dhaka pursuing Hasina's extradition under legal treaty: Shama ● Bhola to join mainland via road, bridge in 5 years: Minister ● BNP govt repays record $2.04b foreign debt in five months ● Increasing viva marks promotes nepotism in govt jobs: Hasnat ● Bidisha released on bail from Kashimpur jail ● Israel advises citizens to avoid Bangladesh over terror risk ● Two more children die of measles as total death toll hits 999

Government moving towards quota over merit: Masud

Published : Tuesday, 8 September, 2026 at 8:15 PM

Observer online report

Jamaat-e-Islami MP Shafiqul Islam Masud has alleged that proposed changes to the recruitment rules for third- and fourth-class government posts are creating scope for politicisation and arbitrariness by giving equal weight to written and viva voce examinations.

Speaking on a point of order during the third session of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad on Tuesday, the Patuakhali-2 lawmaker said the changes were steering the administration towards a quota-based system instead of one based on merit.

Masud said there were growing concerns over a proposed 50:50 distribution of marks between written and viva voce examinations for recruitment to grades 11 to 20.

He said the changes had been approved at a meeting of the administrative development-related secretary committee on the grounds of preventing proxy examinations and fraud.

However, Masud warned that the move could seriously undermine transparency in recruitment and create opportunities for corruption, irregularities and the appointment of politically affiliated candidates.

He said the existing and proposed distribution of marks differed across grades. For grades 11 to 12, the existing 10:90 distribution was proposed to be changed to 50:50. For grades 13 to 16, the existing 10:90 ratio was proposed to be changed to 40:60, while for grades 17 to 20, the existing 10:40 distribution was proposed to be changed to 25 per cent.

“I only want to say that Parliament should take effective measures to ensure that the country is governed based on merit, not quotas,” Masud said.

Later, Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram gave a ruling on the matter. He said members could raise issues through points of order if they concerned ongoing parliamentary business, involved an error or constituted a violation of parliamentary rules.

However, the Speaker said no discussion on recruitment rules was taking place in Parliament at the time. Therefore, he ruled that Masud’s remarks did not constitute a point of order.

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Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury

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