Administrative and education cadres are strongly opposing recommendations made by the Public Administration Reform Commission.
The administrative cadre officials have expressed their dissatisfaction with a proposal to allocate 50% of deputy secretary positions to administrative cadre officers and 50% to other cadres. They insist this proposal is unacceptable and are advocating for the current system, where 75% of these positions are reserved for administrative cadre officials, in line with a court directive, while only 25% go to other cadres.
On the other side, education cadre officials have raised objections to the proposal to separate the education and health sectors into independent commissions, effectively removing them from the existing cadre system. They argue this move could destabilize both sectors and harm their administration.
The recommendations sparked immediate backlash following their publication last Tuesday. That same evening, the Bangladesh Administrative Service Association convened an emergency meeting at the BIAM auditorium in Dhaka. An unnamed administrative cadre official stated that they would firmly reject the proposed 50-50 allocation for deputy secretary positions.
In response, the BCS General Education Cadre Association issued a protest letter on Wednesday, rejecting any plans to abolish the education cadre. The letter, signed by acting president Professor Md. Sirajul Islam and acting general secretary Mohammad Tajib Uddin, warned that such changes could lead to instability in the education sector.
The letter stated:
“We have learned through media reports that the Public Administration Reform Commission intends to recommend removing the BCS General Education and Health cadres from the existing structure. On behalf of our 16,000 members, we categorically reject this recommendation. A similar attempt in 2012 was thwarted, and we intend to do the same now.”
It further criticized the lack of consultation with education cadre representatives and expressed concern that this proposal might disrupt public administration rather than reform it.
“We strongly protest this effort to marginalize the education cadre. Such unilateral recommendations threaten to destabilize the education sector. If implemented, we cannot take responsibility for any resulting stagnation in education programs or reforms,” the letter added.
The controversy ties into longstanding debates around the quota system for senior government positions. The Inter-Cadre Discrimination Elimination Council has been pushing to abolish the quota system entirely, favoring merit-based promotions through open examinations. Given the large number of officers in the education and health cadres, there has been ongoing debate about whether to retain these sectors within the cadre structure.
The Reform Commission’s proposal suggests that separating the education and health sectors could allow for specialized salary structures, similar to the Judicial Service Commission’s separation from the PSC. However, the decision ultimately rests with the government, according to Commission Head Abdul Mueed Chowdhury and Member Secretary Md. Mokhles Ur Rahman, who shared these ideas at a press briefing on Tuesday.
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