Jucsu leaders demand withdrawal of decision to increase viva marks in govt jobs, warn of stronger protests

Leaders of the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (Jucsu) have called for the immediate withdrawal of the decision to increase viva marks in government job recruitment examinations and urged the authorities to ensure a transparent, impartial and merit-based recruitment system.

They also warned that they would launch stronger protests if their demands were not met.

They made the remarks at a protest rally held yesterday (8 September) on the university’s Central Library premises.

At the rally, Jucsu leaders and students expressed concern over the potential for political favouritism, nepotism and corruption in government recruitment and called for the continuation of a merit-based recruitment system.

Speakers said the new decision had significantly increased the marks allocated to viva examinations for various grades, which would upset the balance between written and oral examinations and create opportunities for political interference in the recruitment process.

Rashedul Islam Likhon, Jucsu’s information technology and library secretary, said the government was treating jobseekers unfairly by disproportionately increasing viva marks.

He said the move was contrary to the spirit of the July 2024 movement and called for the decision to be withdrawn immediately.

Jucsu General Secretary Mazharul Islam said written examinations provided an opportunity for an objective assessment of merit and competence, while viva examinations were primarily intended to assess personality and presentation skills.

He argued that disproportionately increasing viva marks compared with written-test marks could create scope for political influence and irregularities in recruitment.