Student protests, called the Bangla Blockade, have mounted across Bangladesh over the demand for the reform of the quota system in various government jobs. According to multiple sources including the BBC and Strait Times, thousands of students from many universities and colleges including the University of Dhaka have been demonstrating for several days to realize their demand against the quota based recruitment system, which they say favors different groups for high-paying government jobs, in the capital Dhaka and other major cities including Chittagong, bringing traffic to a halt. Though Bangladesh’s top court suspended the quota system temporarily — for one month — on Wednesday, protests will probably continue until the problem is permanently resolved.
It is notable that the quota system, the latest controversy on which arrived after the High Court made the system’s cancellation, which was made in 2018 through a Gazette notification by the Ministry of Public Administration of Bangladesh following weeks of student protests and the consideration of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, illegal last month, is not unacceptable altogether and is helpful many times. This is considered in many countries including India and Pakistan with the aim to provide the scope to disadvantaged groups. But it remains unclear whether more than half of the government positions (including thirty percent quota for the children of freedom fighters and ten percent for the residents of specific districts), which immensely limit the scope of jobs for meritorious, can be reasonably given for jobs in any country including Bangladesh where the number of university educated people is increasing year by year.
Students from various backgrounds get enrolled in universities, both public and private, and complete their higher education for better jobs including government jobs. When the quota is high enough, it deprives them including meritorious students of their long time education probably unfairly, impacting themselves and their families and depriving the country of getting the services from its meritorious people. The role and services of the meritorious people will probably be required more in the coming years in Bangladesh, which is a fast growing economy, because of several reasons including, but not limited to, its entering into the growing competition and facing diverse challenges in the development persuasion in economic and other fronts.
Given that protesting students are not altogether against the quota system and favor a five percent quota, their demand may not be unreasoned altogether, under such a circumstance. Limited quota will not only provide the deserving scope of those who are meritorious but also facilitate other groups to get government jobs, rendered to be lucrative in Bangladesh. Consequently, limited quotas will help address inequalities and create a more equitable society by providing opportunities for different groups including marginalized groups to access government jobs — leading to the representation of underrepresented groups.
It is desired that the concerns of the protesters be addressed. While the quota-free system may be a solution, as it has been for around the last six years, the reformation of the entire quota system, which is demanded by protesters, with limited quota may be another, probably better, solution. Notably, this Editor’s Letter does not aim to undermine the court, rather it aims at the protesters’ concerns. If the entire quota system is reformed, establishing a committee may be helpful.
Amir M Sayem
Chief Editor
Dhaka Opinion Magazine
