BANGLADESH
A Bangladeshi Government’s Review Committee recommendation that all quotas for employment in the country’s Public Service be abolished has provoked an angry response in some quarters.
Demands that the five per cent allocation of quota privileges for Indigenous people be kept have been made at a press conference organised at Dhaka University.
Protest organiser, William Nokrek said the decision was too generalised and it was ridiculous to justify it by saying there were no longer any backward communities in the country.
“The grounds for abolishing the quota system have not been created as Indigenous people are still facing hurdles in receiving higher education compared to people living in the plains,” Mr Nokrek said.
“Achieving good results is an uphill battle for Indigenous students due to the lack of qualified teachers and poor school facilities.”
He said critics of the quota system had demanded reform, not abolition, and some lawmakers had already extended their support to retaining the Indigenous quota.
In the wake of countrywide demonstrations staged by general students, Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina pledged support for scrapping the quota system. The recommendation from the Review Committee followed.
However, the demonstrations were mainly against the large quota reserved for the descendants of fighters in the 1971 war of independence, and did not seek the end of the far smaller quotas for Indigenous and disabled applicants.
Dhaka, 27 September, 2018
