Photo : Collected
Students of University of Dhaka held a protest against reinstatement of quota for first-class and second-class government jobs. Students initiated a rally on Monday (01 July), from DU central library which ended in front of Raju Memorial.
"We are putting forward a 4-point demand. We want the cancellation of the quota system," said a Law Department student Rezwan Ahmed who was at the rally.
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 last demand is to maintain transparency in the administration.
Apart from this, they demanded that the quota facility not 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.
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.
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 employing them on the basis of merit.
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 receiving pension benefits.
Messenger/Sourov
