Dhaka University students on Sunday threatened to go for a nationwide movement if the High Court order to restore 30 per cent quota for freedom fighters’ children and grandchildren in government jobs was not cancelled by June 30.
Barishal University students blocked highway in Barishal for the same demand while the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court refused to stay the High Court verdict.
The Appellate Division’s judge in chamber, Justice M Enayetur Rahim, however, set July 4 for hearing a government appeal by attorney general AM Amin Uddin against the verdict. Â
For the third consecutive day, about 2,000 students joined a protest rally that began at 11:00am in front of the Central Library, parading the DU campus via Arts Faculty, Mall Chattar, VC Chattar, TSC, and concluded at the Raju Memorial sculpture.
During the protest, students chanted slogans, including, ‘The essence of the constitution is equal opportunity’, ‘Let the weapons of ’18 [2018] roar again’, and ‘We want the quota system abolished’.
Announcing the ultimatum, Mahin Sarkar, a student of the Bengali department at DU, said that the movement would continue in every educational institution in every district and upazila of the country, if the quota system was not abolished.
‘There should be no quota in Bangladesh. As a woman, I do not want any quota. We want to run our country through merit,’ said Tamanna Akter, a student of the French department at the Institute of Modern Languages.
After the protest rally, a delegation of agitating students went to the attorney general to submit a memorandum, containing their demands.
Students from Barishal University put up a blockade on the Dhaka-Barisal highway on the same day, protesting at the High Court order on quota system in government jobs.
United News of Bangladesh reported that more than 500 students staged demonstrations on the highway from 11:15am to 12:15pm, disrupting traffic and causing suffering to passengers.
After the blockade, the students brought out a protest procession on the highway. Later, they held a protest rally in front of the administrative building of the university.
The agitating students said that they demanded the abolition of all discriminatory quotas except those for ethnic people and people with disabilities.
On June 5, the High Court ordered the government to restore 30 per cent quota for freedom fighters’ children and grandchildren for cadre and non-cadre services in government jobs, sparking fresh protests at public universities in Dhaka and other places.
Attorney general AM Amin Uddin on Sunday appealed to the chamber judge to stay the verdict, stating students were holding movements against restoration of the quota.
He argued that abolishing the quota system was the policy matter of the government, and so the High Court should not interfere with the policy decision.
On October 4, 2018, the government issued a circular, abolishing 56 per cent quota in public services, facing street protests by public university students and job seekers, demanding reform of the quota system introduced in 1972.
Until the abolition, 56 per cent of government jobs were reserved. Of these, 30 per cent were for freedom fighters’ children and grandchildren, 10 per cent for women, 10 per cent for people from underdeveloped districts, 5 per cent for indigenous communities, and 1 per cent for physically challenged people.
