Officials and employees of Rajshahi University (RU) have continued their protest demanding the reinstatement of the pet quota for their children.
On Tuesday, they staged a sit-in protest under the banner of all RU officers and employees at the university's Shaheed Buddhijibi Chattar at 11am.
During the program, RU officials and employees mentioned that the 5% pet quota at the university existed and would continue to exist, adding that they could not consider any alternatives.
They shared their readiness to sacrifice their lives for their children and pledged not to give up until their demand was fulfilled.
They also said that the vice-chancellor had said the events of that day were more brutal than the actions of Israel and insisted that such hostage-like situations should not occur at Rajshahi University.
Moktar Hossain, president of the Officers' Association, said: "Today's (Tuesday) program is part of our efforts to secure our rightful demand. The heir quota is an institutional benefit for teachers, officers, and employees of the university.”
He said: “We have been receiving this facility for years. It is not limited to Rajshahi University; all universities provide this benefit to their employees."
He further said: "On the morning of January 2, some individuals claiming to be students, along with outsiders, locked the administrative building and held us hostage all day.”
Moktar said: “When we requested to leave, they verbally abused us. They did not even spare the elderly or the sick. They pointed guns at administrative officials and cancelled our institutional benefit, which is a disgraceful act.”
“We work tirelessly for the institution, and this benefit is a result of that hard work. We urge the administration to restore our rightful institutional benefit. Otherwise, we will adopt even tougher measures," said the Officers' Association president.
More than a hundred officers, assistants, general staff, and transport workers were present at the protest.
Earlier, on Monday, they held a human chain at the university's Paris Road with the same demand.
It should be noted that for the past two months, general students at Rajshahi University have been protesting to abolish the heir quota.
In response, the university administration initially reduced the quota to 1% for the children of employees and eliminated it for the children of teachers and officers.
However, following pressure from students, Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Saleh Hasan Naqib fully abolished the heir quota on January 2.
