Quota confusion not yet over

A week has passed since the prime minister announced that there would no longer be any quota in public service jobs, following which the protesting students postponed their agitation.

However, no gazette regarding the quota has been issued as yet.

The cabinet division and the public administration ministry are in a quandary as to what to do and many questions remain unanswered.

In the meantime, different organisations of freedom fighters and their children took to the streets in Dhaka and outside Dhaka. They have called for a grand rally at Shahbagh in the capital on 28 April.

Many women organisations are also demanding that quota for women quota in public service to be retained. There is debate over district quotas.

No committee has been formed as yet to decide about quotas for disabled and ethnic minorities and no one has a clear idea about how the current recruitment process will proceed.

All this has created confusion among the protesters about the fate of the prime minister’s announcement.

There is much discussion about the implementation of the announcement on this sensitive issue in the election year. Administrative officials think that it is important to make the quota issue clear. They, however, think that it will take time to make clarify whether the quota system will be fully scraped or not. They said that this issue is complex as no decision will please everyone. The government has to analyse the issue before taking a final decision.

The protesters are also confused. Several of their leaders told Prothom Alo that they think that the government’s target was simply to stop the movement. They are disappointed and angry with the activities of the police and some ruling party student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leaders after they postponed their movement. The recent picking up of three of their leaders by law enforcers and, subsequent release, has also given them cause to worry. A leader said that they do not believe that prime minister will back away from her announcement but confusion was created among students because of the behaviour by the police, BCL and other quarters.

However, public administration ministry officials said that as the head of the government made the announcement in parliament, so there is no room for confusion. However, a gazette is needed to make this official. They are waiting for directives from the prime minister’s office.

When asked, senior secretary of public administration ministry Mozammel Haque Khan told Prothom Alo that there is no need to be worried over the quota system in public service.

So far, the government's formal decision over the quota system is an announcement made by prime minister Sheikh Hasina in parliament, he said, adding that it is, however, clear that members of ethnic communities and the differently-abled will be recruited through a special system.

Asked why the government is taking time to issue the gazette, Mozammel Haque Khan said that it would not take long.

Whether the gazette is issued or not, the quota system has been abolished and this is final, he also said.

Several officials of the cabinet division told Prothom Alo that they are considering quota system abolished after PM's announcement. Now if prime minister wants to keep a special arrangement for members of ethnic communities and the differently-abled, it would be fixed by a committee, headed by the cabinet secretary, they added.

But, these officials have not yet received any written directives in this regard.

Cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam on Tuesday told Prothom Alo that there has been no further progress on the cancelation of the quota system.

Students and job-seekers have long been waging demonstrations for reform of the existing quota system in public service, terming it complicated and discriminatory.

They say they are not anti-quota protesters; rather they want reformation in the system.

According to a Bangladesh Bureau of Statistic (BBS) survey, as many as 2.6 million people are unemployed. And only 359,261 public service posts are vacant as of January 2018, says a report provided by the public administration ministry to Jatiya Sangsad.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina announced on 11 April, amid countrywide demonstrations demanding a reform in quota system, that the quota system would be abolished altogether.

The PM, now abroad, will return on 23 April and fly abroad in the last week of April. And so quota related complications will need some more time to be resolved, said cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam.

However, amid the confusion over the quota system's existence, the process of public service recruitment is going on.

Asked about this, former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder told Prothom Alo that the government should issue a circular over the quota system, resolving all complexities as early as possible.

"I personally support quotas in some cases. However, open-competition (merit) jobs should be at least of 80 per cent in BCS (Bangladesh Civil Service),'' he added.

*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Mushfique Wadud and Imam Hossain.