The government has initiated a plan to overhaul the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination syllabus, shifting from the traditional rote-memorisation approach to a skill-based assessment system, State Minister for Public Administration Md Abdul Bari announced on Thursday.
Speaking during a Q&A session in Parliament, the minister explained that the move aims to align recruitment with the rapidly changing job market and the government’s goal of building a “Smart Bangladesh”.
A dedicated committee has already been formed to review and recommend necessary amendments to the BCS syllabus.
The announcement came in response to a written question from Md Harun-or-Rashid, a treasury bench member from the Rajbari-2 constituency, during the 15th day of the first session of the 13th National Parliament. The session was presided over by Deputy Speaker Barrister Kaiser Kamal.
International benchmarking and viva reforms
The state minister noted that the current Commission’s primary objective is to replace the existing memorisation-heavy recruitment process with a competency-based evaluation system.
The newly formed committee is tasked with reviewing civil service examination models from various countries to provide recommendations for revisions and additions.
Furthermore, significant changes are being introduced to the oral examination process. Minister Bari stated that a competency-based interview system will soon be launched, specifically designed to evaluate a candidate’s knowledge, skills, and attitude.
Reducing recruitment delays
To address long-standing issues of procrastination in the recruitment process, the government has taken steps to complete the entire BCS cycle within a single year.
Regarding the 50th BCS, the minister highlighted that a specific schedule was published alongside the initial circular. Following that timeline, the preliminary results have already been released, and written examinations have commenced.
The state minister also informed the House that since the current Commission was established in October 2024, it has successfully completed the activities related to the 44th, 45th, and 46th BCS, as well as the 48th and 49th (Special) BCS examinations.
