A government-formed committee has recommended abolishing the quota system for first and second class government jobs.
Cabinet Secretary Md Shafiul Alam submitted a report in this regard to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during the weekly Cabinet meeting at her office in Dhaka on Monday.
Students and job seekers, who have been demanding reformation of the existing quota system in public service since February, have somewhat welcomed the development. But they will not stop the movement until the gazette notification, implementing the proposals, is issued.
Experts and academicians have also come up with mixed reactions to the committee’s recommendations.
After the Cabinet meeting, Shafiul Alam told reporters: “We have recommended cancellation of quotas in recruiting officers from ninth grade to 13th grade, meaning previous first class and second class jobs.”
He said that they also recommended “completely merit-based” recruitment from Grade-9 to Grade-13 and “no more quotas for the descendents of freedom fighters and people from ethnic minority groups.”
He said the committee had examined the needs of the quota system for small ethnic groups and physically challenged persons and came to decision that at this stage "the quota is not indispensable for them."
“Now the Public Administration Ministry will submit the report to the Cabinet after getting the Prime Minister’s approval, the gazette notification in this regard will be issued thereafter,” added Shafiul, who also heads the committee constituted to review the quota system.
Earlier, the committee had suggested abolishing almost all the quotas in government jobs to prioritise merit-based recruitment.
On July 2, the Public Administration Ministry formed the seven-member committee to review, reform, or revoke the existing quota system, following a nationwide movement of public and private university students demanding its reformation.
The movement, which started in February, intensified since April after clashes between the activists and police and Bangladesh Chhatra League on Dhaka University (DU) campus.
In response to that, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 11 had announced that all quotas would be abolished.
Currently, about 55% of government jobs are reserved for candidates from various quotas, which include freedom fighters (30%), women (10%), district (10%) and small ethnic groups (5%); while recruitment of the remaining 45% officials is merit-based.
Movement to continue until gazette issuance
Bangladesh General Students Rights Protection Council (BGSRPC), which has been spearheading the quota reform movement, has welcomed the committee’s positive recommendations, but said they will continue their movement until the gazette notification was issued.
The council’s Convener Hasan Al Mamun made the announcement while addressing a press briefing in front of Dhaka University Central library Monday afternoon.
He also demanded withdrawal of false cases against the activists and ensure exemplary punishment to those who attacked the activists during the movement.
BGSRPC Joint Convener Faruk Hasan also added: "We do not have faith in bureaucracy. The gazette must be published immediately."
They also announced holding a rally at 11:30am today at the DU to press home their demands.
Mixed reactions from experts
Meanwhile, academicians and experts have come up with mixed reactions with recommendations to scrap the quota system for first and second class government jobs.
Dr Akbar Ali Khan, a former caretaker government adviser, said that there was no country in the world with an everlasting quota system in government services. “Rather, the system operates for a certain period in order to bring marginalized communities into the mainstream.”
Percentage of recruitment through quotas should never be higher than that of recruitment on the basis of merit, he added.
He, however, welcomed the latest proposals, but said: “Their speedy implementation is now mandatory.”
DU’s Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury was not very happy with the outcome of the government-formed committee’s review, saying the recommendations were “unrealistic.”
“This decision has gone against the demand of the students. Cancellation of quota for two classes is not the solution. The percentages of the quotas need to be reduced,” he said.
Former Bangladesh Public Service Commission member Prof Shariff Enamul Kabir, who is also a former vice-chancellor of Jahangirnagar University, only said that he was in favour of the recommendations, but declined to comment further.
Weighing in on the matter, DU’s Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman also said: “This is a good initiative. But our constitution stipulates that the underprivileged, such as women and ethnic minority groups, will get some facilities.
“There should have been something for them in the recommendations”
Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam on Monday also said that the committee had sought legal experts’ opinions about a related court verdict on the freedom fighter quota, but they said the judgment would have no effect on the recommendations as "this is a policy decision of the government."
"Article 29 of the constitution stipulates that the government, if it wants, can allow quota for backward people, but it’s not mandatory,” he added.
Quota is usually a system put in place to give preference to members of minority groups. In Bangladesh, it was introduced to ensure inclusion of all communities into mainstream education and development.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman introduced quota for freedom fighters and their descendents in 1972, but it was scrapped three years later following his assassination. After that, the freedom fighters quota was invalid for the next 21 years.
Bangabandhu’s daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina re-introduced the freedom fighters quota in 1996.
