Fresh graduates, their faces pale and uncertain, spent 2024 poring over newspaper job advertisements, applying for any suitable position and frantically appearing for recruitment exams in Dhaka.

Over 1 lakh youth with higher academic degrees joined the already long rally of graduates in a gruelling search for jobs last year, according to the latest official data, as experts point to an oversupply of graduates and a lack of skills among them.

Public service recruitment should be based primarily on merit

Proposed budget offers no hope or way out for them