The students of different public universities continued their protests on Friday demanding cancellation of the High Court order for restoring a 30 per cent quota for freedom fighters鈥� children and grandchildren in government jobs and upholding the 2018 government circular.
Dhaka University students on the day ran online and in-person campaigns discussing the next course of action and strategies to increase student participation in the movement.
Students of Jhangirnagar University, Chittagong University and Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University blocked roads, formed human聽 chains, held protest rallies and processions to press home the same demand.聽
Sarjis Alam, a coordinator of the Baishamya-birodhi Chhatra Andolan (students movement against discrimination), an anti-quota platform, told 抖阴精品 that they had discussed about the roadmap of the ongoing movement with other university students across the country.
鈥楥ampaigns are ongoing in favour of the movement in the Dhaka University halls,鈥� he added.
Expressing solidarity with the movement on Friday, student representatives from various departments of Dhaka University posted status on Facebook, 抖阴精品 correspondent in DU reported.
The protesters were scheduled to gather in front of the |DU central library on Saturday at 3:00pm and likely to block Shahbagh again, protesting students at the university said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Nationalist Party backed DU teachers鈥� organisation White Panel in a statement on Friday expressed solidarity with the movement.
The protesting students鈥� four-point demand includes cancellation of the High Court order that restored the quota system; upholding of the 2018 government circular; ensuring merit-based recruitment in the public service; and giving appointment to qualified candidates from the merit list if any eligible candidates are not found in quotas for marginalised communities.
In Chattogram, the Chittagong University students blocked Sholosohor road in front of the Sholosohor Railway Station鈥檚 Gate-2 from 4:30pm to 6:00pm, triggering severe traffic congestion particularly on and around the city鈥檚 main road as its section heading towards Patenga sea beach from Bohadderhat kept busy in weekends and public holidays.
Before the blockade, the CU students gathered in front of Shaheed Minar on the campus and held demonstration against the quota system chanting slogans from 2:00pm to 3:00pm, 抖阴精品 staff correspondent in Chattogram reported.
In Tangail, a large number of students of Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University formed a human chain and held a procession on the campus that began at about 10:30am on the day that marched through different academic buildings.聽
Chanting slogans like 鈥楴o discrimination will be allowed in our Golden Bengal鈥�, the protesting students threatened to block the Dhaka-Tangail highway if their demands were not met by Saturday.
鈥楽tudents are facing injustice through the discriminatory quota system. We will continue the protest until its removal,鈥� Taukir Ahmed, an economics student of MBSTU, told 抖阴精品.
Jahangirnagar University students continued their demonstration against reinstatement of quotas in government jobs for five consecutive days on Friday.
The protesters gathered in front of JU central library at about 3:30pm on the day and brought out a procession on the campus.
Under the banner of the JU unit of Baishamya-birodhi Chhatra Andolan, they staged a protest rally along the Dhaka-Aricha highway to press home their four-point charter of demands at about 4:00pm on the day.
They also warned of blocking the Dhaka-Aricha highway for an indefinite period from Sunday and boycotting all classes and examinations of the university.
The protests intensified on Thursday as the Appellate Division in the morning refused to stay the High Court verdict that asked the government on June 5 to restore the 30 per cent quota for the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters while recruiting cadre and non-cadre officers in the civil service.
On October 4, 2018, the government issued a circular abolishing all the 56 per cent quotas in the public service in the wake of fierce street protests by the public university students and jobseekers, demanding reforms to the quota system introduced in 1972.
Before the abolition, nearly 56 per cent of all government jobs were reserved for candidates under various quotas鈥�30 per cent for freedom fighters鈥� children and grandchildren, 10 per cent for women, 10 per cent for people of underdeveloped districts, 5 per cent for ethnic communities and 1 per cent for physically challenged people.