Bangladesh: What is the quota movement and why the student-government face-off?

Ibnul Ammar

In Bangladesh, 56 per cent of the first- and second-class government jobs are recruited from quota, and the remaining 44 per cent are recruited from general job candidates.  Of this 56 per cent quota, 30 per cent is freedom fighter quota, 10 per cent is women quota, 10 per cent is district quota, 5 per cent to minorities, and the remaining 1 per cent is a handicapped quota. Based on these statistics, it can be said that in the recruitment of government jobs in Bangladesh, the genuinely talented are in the minority. Although no one has any objection to women, district, minority and handicapped quotas, there has been a kind of unrest going on for a long time among university students about the 30 per cent freedom fighter quota.  There are allegations that less qualified candidates are being wooed due to such a large number of quotas in government jobs.  As a result, many experts claim that real talents are largely deprived of government jobs due to the prevalence of the quota system in the public sector.  They also believe that it is the cause of discrimination to a large extent.

Who are the Freedom fighters?

Freedom fighters in Bangladesh, known as "Muktijoddha," are those who fought for the country during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan. Before the war, most of these individuals were common villagers without access to various facilities, including government jobs. During the War of Independence, many lost their lives, and some were paralysed. Meanwhile, the survivors could not maintain reasonable and stable economic conditions. Thus, one of the privileges extended to them by the government is a special employment quota. However, many freedom fighters were uneducated or too old to benefit from this quota. Consequently, the government also includes their children in the quota system for government jobs.

How did the quota become an issue?

Although the quota system for freedom fighters was introduced for a temporary or short-term period, it continued for a long time afterwards.  At one point, beyond the second generation of the freedom fighters, the third generation, i.e. the grandchildren of the freedom fighters, also got to use the freedom fighter quota to recruit government jobs.  From there, the objections to the freedom fighter quota started. In fact, the constitution mentions that it benefits the backward classes of society. Here, women are also included in the backward classes, while freedom fighters are not mentioned anywhere. The reason is that not all freedom fighters were poor or rural backward people. Many urban and wealthy people also participated in the liberation war. Therefore, there was no opportunity to refer to the freedom fighters as backward or backward caste in one sentence.

Bangladesh has long had a 56 per cent quota for first- and second-class government jobs, an auxiliary police force and defence member quota for third- and fourth-class jobs and a 50 per cent quota for female teachers in government primary schools.  All in all, genuine, talented and qualified job candidates were deprived of these quotas. As a result, in 2018, students from different universities in Bangladesh started an anti-quota movement demanding quota reform. The students demanded that the quota be reduced from 56 per cent to 10 per cent in the first- and second-class government jobs. On October 4, 2018, the Ministry of Public Administration cancelled the quota system by issuing a circular in the face of the demands of university students in Bangladesh. However, in 2021, some children of freedom fighters wrote a petition to the high court to get back the 30 per cent freedom fighter quota. Given that, the High Court on 5 June 2024 declared that the government's decision to cancel the quota of freedom fighters was invalid.  Through this, the quota of 30 per cent freedom fighters in the first- and second-line government jobs were reinstated. 

Ever since the verdict of the High Court, the students have been protesting to cancel it. After a few days of agitation, the students suspended the agitation till June 29 due to Eid al-Adha. After that, the movement started again on 30th June, and from 1st July 2024, this movement for quota reform spread across the country.  At the beginning of the movement, the students talked about four-point demands, but now they have brought it to one point, which is to abolish the unreasonable and discriminatory quotas in all grades and bring the quotas for the backward communities mentioned in the constitution to the minimum level and pass the law in the parliament. That means the bone of contention is reforming the quota to 5 or 10 per cent. For a long time after independence, there was no dissatisfaction or controversy over the freedom fighter quota. The problem arises when the grandchildren of the freedom fighters start enjoying the benefits of this quota. Freedom fighters have sacrificed a lot for the country, but experts do not think it is justified to benefit from the third-generation freedom fighter quota. Moreover, after so many years of independence, the financial condition of the families of the freedom fighters has improved more.

How Prime Minister Hasina instigate the incident

A single word used by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in an interview sparked student anger and came out of the street. When a journalist mentioned to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that students' unhappiness about freedom fighters' grandchildren benefitting from the freedom fighters quota, she replied, “If freedom fighters’ grandchildren couldn’t benefit from the quota, then Rajakars’s grandchildren will get the benefit?” Rajakar is a word that is known in English as a collaborator. During the liberation war, some groups of people worked with the Pakistani army as an auxiliary force to fight against Bangladesh's freedom fighters. This group of people were called rajakar (collaborators). They were involved in mass killing, genocide, vandalism and rape during the time of the liberation war. For this reason, the word “rajakar” is very hated in Bangladesh, and students got outraged because the Bangladesh prime minister indicated them as rajakar. For this reason, they started to give a slogan during the protest, “ami ke, tumi ke, rajakar, rajakar”. It means, “Who am I, who are you, rajakar, rajakar”. Students claim that they are getting educated to serve the country. For this reason, they considered that the prime minister insulted students by indicating the word “rajakar” to them.

Bangladesh's quota movement has now become a clash between students and the police force. Students from different universities and colleges all over Bangladesh came out on the street and demanded quota reform. Despite the students having a peaceful gathering, police shoot bullets, tear shells, and charge sticks at students. While the initial report indicated hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries because of police attacks, the actual number is still unknown.

The course of events is changing

The Supreme Court of Bangladesh immediately gave a verdict where the quota for freedom fighters was reduced to 5 per cent, 1 per cent to minorities and another 1 per cent to disabled and third-gender people. In contrast, the rest, 93 per cent, is recruited based on merit. However, students decided to continue their demonstration, demanding a trial for those who were involved in killing students during the time of the demonstration. The demonstration spread nationwide, which the police force could not control. The government decided to shut down the internet and social media to control the protest. Also, the government decided to deploy armed forces to control demonstrations.

Although the situation now remains relatively stable, protestors informed governments and nations through a press conference that they will continue their movement demanding trials of those behind killing students during demonstrations. Several video footage indicate that police entered several educational institutions and shot bullets and charged sticks at students. Even the student wing of the ruling party (Bangladesh Awami League), Bangladesh Chattra League, collaborated with the police force and got involved in this mass killing altogether. Female students were also killed and tortured by the police force and the student wing of the ruling party. All this evidence indicates that the ruling party of Bangladesh and its police force stand against the entire student body in Bangladesh. It appears that they announced a war against all students in Bangladesh. The situation is considered to be the most brutal event in the history of Bangladesh.