JU correspondent

A group of Jahangirnagar University students on Tuesday blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway protesting the restoration of the quota system in all tiers of government jobs.

The protesters gathered around 3:30 pm at the Central Library premises of the university. Later, they brought out a protest procession while chanting different slogans like ‘Bangabandhur Banglay Boisommer Thai Nai, Ekattorer Banglay Boisommer Thai Nai, Quota Prothar Kobor De.’

Following the procession, the protesters blocked the Dhaka-Aricha Highway adjacent to the main gate of the university for 25 minutes.

They pressed home their four point demands – the reinstate the law of 2018 abolishing the quotas in government jobs, constitute a commission regarding all types of government jobs recruitment by canceling the irrational and discriminatory quotas, the quotas only considerable for the unprivileged and lack behind people, and the vacant post must be fulfilled on the basis of merit if there won’t be any qualified candidate mentioning the applicability of quota facility for once.

Addressing the gathering, Zahidul Islam Emon, a postgraduate student of the university, said, “Quota is for the backward and unprivileged communities, the disabled and the tribe are considered for quota as well but the people who gets all kind of previleges are not eligible for quota.”

‘The constitution mandated equal opportunity for everyone by article 19. The government should have to meet our demand to eradicate the disparities from all tiers of the government recruitments,” he said.

The protesters announced a road blockade programme for two hours on Wednesday.