Rakibul Islam
The quota system in Bangladesh has been a topic of heated debate for many years. This system reserves a certain percentage of government jobs and educational opportunities for specific groups. While it aims to support disadvantaged groups, it has also led to controversy and protests, especially among young people.
What is the Quota System?
The quota system was introduced in Bangladesh to ensure that marginalized groups have fair access to jobs and education. These groups include women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and the children-grandchildren of freedom fighters (those who fought for Bangladesh’s independence in 1971).
For example, in government jobs, 30% of positions were reserved for children of freedom fighters, 10% for women, 10% for district quotas (to ensure people from different regions get jobs), 5% for ethnic minorities, and 1% for people with disabilities. This left only 44% of jobs open to competition for everyone else.
Why did Protests Happen?
Many students and young job seekers felt that the quota system was unfair. They believed it made it harder for qualified candidates to get jobs. Because so many positions were reserved. They argued that the system should be based on merit, meaning the best person for the job should get it, regardless of their background.
In 2018, these feelings led to large protests. Thousands of students from universities across the country joined together to demand changes to the quota system. They wanted the government to reduce the number of reserved positions and make more jobs available based on merit.
The Government’s Response
The protests were significant and caught the attention of the government. In response, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced that the quota system in government jobs would be abolished. However, this decision led to further debates. Some people felt that completely removing quotas would disadvantage those groups that the system was originally designed to help.
Eventually, the government decided to keep some quotas but reduce the percentages. They also promised to ensure that the selection process for jobs and education would be fairer and more transparent.
After 6 years, why did the quota movement start again?
In 2018, the government decided to cancel the 30 percent quota for the children of freedom fighters in government jobs from ninth to thirteenth grade.
Following a writ petition, the High Court declared the government’s decision invalid on June 5.
Then the students started the movement.There they raised some demands and some of them are-
1. Quota system announced in 2018 should be abolished and merit based recruitment circular should be maintained.
2. Subject to the 2018 circular being upheld, the commission should be constituted as soon as possible to eliminate unreasonable and discriminatory quotas in government jobs (all grades) and bring the quota to a minimum level. In that case only backward communities can be considered according to the constitution.
3. Quota facility cannot be availed more than once in the recruitment examination of government jobs and in case of non-availability of eligible candidates in the quota, the vacant posts shall be appointed on merit basis.
4. Effective measures should be taken to ensure a corruption-free, impartial and merit-based bureaucracy.
Asif Mahmud, the organizer of the movement and a student of Dhaka University, said, ‘We are demanding to cancel the quota and reinstate the circular of 2018. If the government wants to reform the quota rationally, we will accept it. But we do not accept the restoration of quota in government jobs.
The writer is a third year BBA student of Bhawal Badre Alom Govt College, Gazipur.
