Demanding the abolition of the quota system in government jobs, students of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) staged protest rallies and blocked the train tracks at Abdul Jabbar intersection on Wednesday, disrupting train service for an hour.
Over 300 students gathered at noon in front of the university's Muktomoncho. From there, they began a protest march, which passed through the university's KR Market and ended back at Muktomoncho and a protest rally was held in front of Muktomoncho.
Following the protest meeting, the students marched again, this time to the Abdul Jabbar intersection and the students blocked the Mohua Commuter Train, which was travelling from Dhaka to Mohanganj, holding the train for an hour from 1:20pm to 2:20pm.
During the protest, Mashsharat Maliha, a postgraduate student from the Veterinary Faculty, said: "If the freedom fighter quota remains, the sacrifice against discrimination in 1971 becomes meaningless. We honour the heroes of our country, but we will not accept any form of quota-based discrimination.
“We demand 100% merit-based evaluation in university admissions, job recruitment, and all other competitive fields," she added.
Rashedul Islam, a postgraduate student from the Aquaculture Department, said: "Freedom fighters deserve the highest respect forever. However, under the guise of honouring them, the quota system is being used to severely discriminate against ordinary students and job seekers.
“We want to see merit-based candidates win in the verdict on the quota issue on July 4. If not, the entire student community of the country will stand together in protest," he added.
In 2018, there was a demand to reduce the quota system from 56% to 10%. Subsequently, in that year, the existing quota system for first and second-class government jobs was abolished through a circular.
Later, in 2021, a writ petition was filed in the High Court to amend the freedom fighter quota part of that circular. In the verdict of that writ, on June 5, the High Court declared the circular related to the abolition of the freedom fighter quota in government jobs as illegal.
From the next day, students from various universities across the country have started protesting against this verdict.