By Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, July 20: The Tibetan Government-in-Exile also known as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), has recently made changes to the age limits for its civil services. The new eligibility criteria now require candidates to be a minimum of 25 years old, up from 21 years, and set the upper limit age at 40 years, increased from 35 years.
Speaking to Phayul, Yangkyi, the Secretary of the Public Service Commission (PSC), one of the CTA’s three autonomous bodies responsible for recruitment and promotion, explained the rationale behind changing the age limits. “The primary focus was not on the minimum age but on the maximum age. The core reason for setting the upper limit at 40 years is to ensure that candidates for the Joint Secretary post have the requisite experience. A candidate must have a minimum of eight years of service with the CTA to be eligible for this position. Most candidates with this level of experience have already surpassed the age of 35, thus becoming disqualified under the previous limit. To address this issue, the upper age limit was increased from 35 to 40 years for candidates applying for the Joint Secretary post.”
Yangkyi further elaborated, ”When the upper age limit was increased from 35 to 40 years, the lower age limit was naturally raised from 21 to 25 years. This decision allows college graduates to complete their bachelor’s and master’s studies with an additional need to have strong Tibetan language skills. However, many students take the civil service exam shortly after graduating, often preparing for only a month or two, and struggle with the Tibetan language portion because they have not been in touch with the language during their college years. By setting the lower age limit at 25, we aim to give them the opportunity to study the Tibetan language thoroughly after completing their college education.”
While these changes aim to improve the efficiency and inclusivity of the administration, they have sparked concerns among younger aspirants. An anonymous aspirant told Phayul, “The new lower age limit of 25 years excludes younger candidates like me and my friends who are 21 and have completed our bachelor’s degrees. We planned to join the civil services immediately after graduation. The previous limit of 21 years allowed recent graduates to begin their careers early, but now we face the prospect of waiting additional years to become eligible.”
Another anonymous source within the CTA voiced support for increasing the upper age limit to 40 years but argued that the new minimum age limit restricts younger aspirants from starting their careers sooner. This, the source claimed, limits the years of service these aspirants could offer and their potential contributions to the administration at a younger age.
With the recent adjustments to the lower and upper age limits for civil services, the eligibility criteria for the Junior Clerk position remain unchanged, requiring only the completion of studies up to grade 12 without necessitating a bachelor’s or master’s degree. However, this creates an issue, as most candidates who finish grade 12 are around 18 or 19 years old and will not be eligible for the post until they reach 25.
When questioned about this, the Secretary of the PSC confirmed that the educational requirement for the Junior Clerk position is indeed completion of grade 12. She explained that the lower age limit was naturally raised to 25 due to the increase in the upper age limit. She added that if this change sparks significant concerns, it may be revised, but emphasised that any such revision would need to undergo parliamentary procedures, making it a complex process.
