DU, JU students continue protest against quota reinstatement
Their first demand is to reinstate the law of 2018 abolishing the quota system
Students of Dhaka University held a protest against the reinstatement of quota in recruitment for first and second class government jobs.
They initiated a rally in front of the DU central library which ended in front of Raju Memorial after passing through the Faculty of Fine Arts and the DU library with placards and festoons in hand around 12pm today (1 July).
"We are putting forward a 4-point demand. We want the cancellation of quota system," said a Law Department student Rezwan Ahmed who was at the rally.
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He said, the first demand is to reinstate the law of 2018 abolishing the freedom fighter quota in government jobs. Second is to make a committee to repair the quota system.
The third demand is to fulfill the seats with talent instead of quota in instances when seats allocated under quotas are not filled up.
The last demand is to maintain transparency in the administration.
Apart from this, they demanded that the quota facility cannot be used more than once in the recruitment examination of government jobs.
The agitators said that a mass march programme will be held from the central library tomorrow noon and a mass gathering will be held at the foot of the Raju Memorial in front of the TSC on Wednesday.
Another student from the finance department Rupu Akhter said, "There should be no quota except the disabled quota. We are against this quota. We hope we will get a good result on 4 July [High Court's hearing date on the issue]."
Later, they took out a procession and headed to the proctor's office to demand that the university's central library and science library be kept open.
Meanwhile, students of Jahangirnagar University also held a protest by blocking the Dhaka-Aricha Highway.
They staged a sit-in programme today (1 July) afternoon with posters demanding the removal of quota system.
The High Court on 5 June declared the 2018 circular abolishing the freedom fighter quota in government jobs illegal. As a result, the 30% quota for freedom fighters in first and second-class government jobs remains in effect.
Soon after that students across the country started protesting against this quota system.
Previously, Arif Sohel, coordinator of the protest at Jahangirnagar University, said, "We think this is a discriminatory rule which needs to stop. Some of the people are getting an irrational advantage with this quota system, we are against this."
Earlier till 2018, 56% of posts in government jobs were reserved for various quotas. Among them, 30% was allocated for the children of freedom fighters, 10% for women, 10% for districts, 5% for minority groups, and 1% for the disabled. Later, in view of the agitation by a section of students, the Cabinet recommended to abolish quotas in first and second class jobs and to employ them on the basis of merit.
On 4 October 2018, the Ministry of Public Administration issued a circular amending the existing quota system for first and second class government jobs. However, the government maintained the quota system in the third and fourth classes.
Meanwhile, teachers at public universities nationwide, including Dhaka University, suspended all academic and administrative activities indefinitely starting today (1 July) demanding the withdrawal of the "Prottoy" universal pension scheme.
No classes or exams have taken place on the campus since this morning.
On 13 March, the government introduced the Prottoy scheme for employees who join public universities and other organisations that fall under the scheme from 1 July 2024 onwards.
However, those who joined these institutions before 1 July 2024 will continue to receive pension benefits as before.
