July 5, 2024
DHAKA – Students of Comilla University blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram highway for three hours protesting the SC upholding, till further order, the High Court verdict that reinstated the quota system for government jobs.
They left the highway around 3:30pm after the district’s Deputy Commissioner Khandaker M Musfiqur Rahman and Superintendent of Police Abdul Mannan rushed there and assured them to convey their message to the government.
Vehicles stuck on both sides of the highway following the blockade started to move on the road, our local correspondent reports.
From 12:30pm the students staged a sit-in on the busy highway, a commercial artery connecting the capital and the port city, at Beltali area of Cumilla Sadar South upazila.
Around 2:30pm, CoU Proctor Kazi Omar Siddique said, “We along with law enforcers are trying to convince them to move from the highway.”
CU students block Chattogram-Khagrachhari highway
Chittagong University (CU) students blocked the Chattogram-Khagrachhari highway for around two hours today in protest of the reinstatement of the quota system in government job.
Several hundred students held a protest rally in front of the university’s Gate 1 from noon till 1:45pm, which led to significant traffic congestion on both sides of the road.
They chanted slogans such as “Bury the quota system”, “No more tears for the meritorious”, “No place for discrimination in my golden Bengal,” “Keep the country’s talent in the country, abolish the quota system”, and many others.
Fatema, a student from the Department of Sociology, said, “We do not accept this discriminatory quota system. Because of the quota, meritorious students are not receiving proper recognition. It’s unacceptable that a talented student scoring 80 in an exam may not get a job, while those benefiting from the quota system can easily secure employment.”
Additionally, students voiced their opposition to the quota system through various songs. The agitating students in their speeches warned that if their demands were not met, they would announce long-term programmes in the coming days.
Among their four demands, a key one is the formation of a commission to reform the quota system in government jobs based on the 2018 circular. If no candidates are found for the quota, the vacant positions should be filled by merit-based candidates.
Earlier in the day, the students held a sit-in protest at the University Shaheed Minar.