Anti-quota movement: Hour-long demonstration of students, job seekers at Shahbagh

A number students and job aspirants brought out a procession demanding the reinstatement of the government circular, published in 2018, abolishing the quota system in government services from in front of the Dhaka University (DU) Central Library today, Tuesday.

The procession paraded through Nilkhet, Science Lab and Bata Signal and ended at the Shahbagh intersection.

At the end of the procession, the protesters took position at the Shahbagh intersection and staged demonstrations blocking the road for an hour. They moved away from the road at around 4:45 pm.

Speaking regarding the next step of the movement, ‘Anti-discriminatory Student Movement’ coordinator Nahid Islam said they would take position in front of the DU Central Library again at 2:30 pm Wednesday and stage a sit-in programme there.

He also urged students from all universities across the country to stage demonstrations on their respective campuses at the same time under the same banner.

“This is not a matter concerning only the students and job aspirants. This is about the affairs of the students. The spirit of liberation war is not a matter of hereditary tradition, it is a national ideology. We, the youth, bear that spirit in our hearts. That is why we embarked upon this movement against the quota system.”

The protesters lifted the blockade at around 4:45 pm and moved towards the residence of DU vice-chancellor. It has been learnt that they will stage demonstrations there and will raise the demand to keep the central library open tomorrow, Wednesday.

The DU central library has been closed for the last two days as part of the ongoing movement of the teachers and employees of the university demanding the cancellation of universal pension scheme 'prottoy'.

Earlier, a large number of students and job aspirants brought out a procession from the DU Central Library premises under the banner of anti-discriminatory student movement at around 2:45 pm.

The protesters were chanting different slogans against the quota system. The procession reached the Shahbagh intersection at around 3:45 pm, where a number of police took position beforehand. However, the members of law enforcement agencies left the place as the protesters started chanting slogans demeaning the police force.

The protesters stayed there for an hour and staged a demonstration before moving towards the residence of DU vice-chancellor.

Notably, there was 56 per cent quota in government jobs, including 30 per cent freedom fighter quota, 10 per cent women quota, 10 per cent quota for people from backward districts, 5 per cent quota for ethnic minorities and 1 per cent quota for physically impaired persons.

That year, there was a big protest in the educational institutions across the country, including the Dhaka University demanding quota reform. The protester demanded to bring down the quota percentage to 10 from 56 per cent.

Later, on 4 October that year, the public administration ministry issued a circular cancelling the quota system. Through this, the quota system that had been in practice for 46 years for the first class and second class government jobs was cancelled.

However, later in 2021, offspring of freedom fighters filed a writ with the High Court challenging the abolishment of the freedom fighter quota for government jobs.

Following the hearing on that writ, the court declared the cancellation of the freedom fighter quota as illegal on 5 June this year. The job aspirants have been protesting since then demanding the reinstatement of the circular abolishing the freedom fighter quota.

Apart from the reinstatement of the circular, the job aspirants and students united under the banner of ‘anti-discriminatory student movement’ are also pressing some other demands.

Those include the formation of commission to omit irrational and discriminatory quotas in all grades of government jobs subjected to the reinstatement of the 2018 circular, considering the backward community as per the constitution, closing down the scopes to use the quota facility more than once, filling up the empty posts reserved for quota on the basis of merit and taking effective measures to ensure a corruption-free, neutral and merit-based bureaucracy.