DU Correspondent

Tens of thousands of Dhaka University (DU) students took to the streets today, protesting the restoration of the quota system in government jobs.

They marched through different streets of the DU, holding processions to press for their demand for merit-based recruitment in government jobs by cancelling the quota system.

Following a nationwide student movement against the quota system, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, while addressing the parliament on 11 April 2018, announced to abolish all sorts of quota privileges in the public service.

Meanwhile, on June 5, 2024, the High Court declared illegal the government decision that in 2018 cancelled the 30 percent quota system for the freedom fighters' children in the civil service of ninth to 13th grades (first and second classes of jobs).

Protesting the HC declaration, the students of the country’s almost all public and private universities got agitated and started waging protests demanding restoration of the circular issued in 2018 revoking the quota system in the government jobs.

As part of the protest, the DU students gathered in front of the central library around 11 am and then brought out processions that marched through different streets of the university.

Later, they staged a demonstration at Raju sculpture on the campus and from where they announced to continue the protest programme for the next three days to realise the demand.

In line with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s announcement, the government on 4 October 2018 issued a circular revoking the 10 percent women quota, 30 percent freedom fighters’ quota and 10 percent district quota for first and second class government jobs.

Later, Ohidul Islam, president of Central Command Council of Children and Generations of Freedom Fighters, filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of the circular.

Following the writ petition, the HC, in its verdict, declared the circular illegal on 5 June 2018.

Since then, the anti-quota movement started getting momentum among the students of different public and private universities across the country.

Apart from the DU, the students of many universities, including Jagangirnagar, Rajshahi and seven colleges under the DU today went on movements against the restoration of the quota system.