New blockade of Shahbag, cancellation of quota demanded

Students of Dhaka University (DU) protest by blocking Shahbag intersection in the capital, demanding the cancellation of quota.

On Saturday, July 6, at around 4:30 pm, students came to Shahbag with a protest procession from the Dubai University campus under the banner of the “anti-discrimination student movement”. They then blocked the Shahbag intersection. Traffic was disrupted.

Students said that because of this quota system, the son of a farmer will remain a farmer, the son of a mason will remain a mason and the son of a worker will remain a worker. We will test the same questions, write the same questions, take the oral exams with the same questions. But they will get 100 advantages only because of quota, we will not accept this.

It is worth noting that till 2018, the quota for government jobs in Bangladesh was 56%. Of these, 30% was reserved for freedom fighters, 10% for women, 10% for people from deprived districts, 5% for people from ethnic minorities and 1% for people with disabilities.

Large demonstrations were held in several educational institutions across the country, including the University of Dhaka, demanding a reform of the quota system. The protesters demanded to reduce it from 56% to 10% by reforming it. Later, on October 4 of the same year, the Ministry of Public Administration issued a circular on the abolition of the quota system.

Thus, the quota system that existed for 46 years in first and second class government jobs was cancelled. Later in 2021, the children of some freedom fighters filed a petition in the High Court challenging the part of the circular that cancelled the quota of freedom fighters. In the judgment of this petition, this part of the circular was declared invalid on June 5 this year. Since then, students in general who are looking for jobs are entering the field.