Students at Rajshahi University on Friday continued their demonstrations for the second consecutive day running against the authorities’ decision to reinstate the ward quota for the children of the university’s teachers, officials and employees for admission to undergraduate courses.
After the Jumma prayers, they brought out a procession from the central mosque and later joined a rally in front of the graveyard of martyred Professor Dr Shamsuzzoha.
Protesters at the rally said that the ward quota was a settled issue and must not be brought back ‘under any name or form’.
Salahuddin Ammar, a former coordinator of the Student Against Discrimination, said that with the university central students’ union elections a few days ahead, a section of the university’s teaching and other staff was trying to bring the ward quota back using the elections as cover.
‘We are making it clear that RUCSU elections will be held, but the ward quota will never rise from the grave,’ he said.
Law and land administration student Kamrul Hasan, alleging that the university authorities did not want the RUCSU election, said, ‘That is why they have reinstated the ward quota just days before the polls scheduled for September 25’.
Mass communication and journalism student Mahir Faisal said threatened to launch a fierce movement against the ward quota reinstatement just as they did to oust the fascist Awami League regime.
‘If necessary, we are ready to give our blood again. But we will never allow anyone to bring back the ward quota,’ he warned.
Earlier in the day, vice-chancellor Professor Saleh Hasan Naqib told journalists after Jumma prayers that the announcement by teachers, officers and employees of a work abstention from September 21 had raised concerns about the polls.
‘That is why the academic council sub-committee on admission made this decision,’ he said, adding, ‘But ultimately, what students want will prevail, because we want a peaceful university’.
On January 2, the university administration abolished the ward quota facility for undergraduate admission enjoyed by the children and grandchildren of teachers, officers and other employees of the university.
The administration cancelled the quota after students confined the vice-chancellor, pro-vice-chancellors and other officials inside the administration building for 12 hours on January 2, demanding its cancellation.
Previously, a 5 per cent quota was reserved for the children and grandchildren of the RU teachers, officers and other employees for taking admission to the university’s undergraduate courses.
But in early August, a section of teachers, officers and employees launched a movement demanding reinstatement of the facility.
They also announced that from September 21 they would go for a full work abstention programme under which academic and administrative activities would also be boycotted if their demand was not met.
Following their announcement, the authorities reinstated the ward quota on Thursday night, triggering protests from the students who took position in front of the vice-chancellor’s residence and staged a sit-in there for five hours at night.
