JU abolishes ward quota

The Jahangirnagar University (JU) administration has decided to abolish the ward quota in admissions in the face of demands from protesting students.

"The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the Central Admission Test Committee," Vice-Chancellor Professor Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan announced while speaking to students protesting in front of the administrative building at around midnight on Tuesday (4 February).

"The cancellation of the facility involves the interests of various stakeholders of the university. That is why we had to discuss it. The Admissions Committee has also realised that those who enjoy the facility also have many rights in their professional lives, which remain unfulfilled. They have also been making demands for a long time. That is why the Admissions Committee has formed a separate committee to consider their institutional facilities," the VC also said.

The development comes following protests and counter-protests by students and JU employees regarding the ward quota in recent days.

The protest began on 2 February when a group of JU students, under the banner of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, started an indefinite hunger strike on the day, demanding the elimination of the ward quota in university admissions. 

The strike, organised by the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement's JU unit, began around 11am in front of the administrative building. The strike lasted for nearly a day before VC Kamrul assured them of revising the quota system on Monday.

Later, on Monday midnight, the VC announced that the ward quota system had been revised with multiple changes.

The changes were: limiting seats under the quota to 40, restricting the quota only to employees' children, limiting the quota benefit only once for an employee regardless of the number of children, increasing the passing mark to 40% from the previous 32%, and banning employees to admit their children under the quota in the same department where they work.

However, the announcement prompted a counter-strike from JU staff, who also called for a work abstention on Wednesday (5 February). 

"Ward quota is an institutional facility. This facility exists in almost all institutions in Bangladesh. Our continuous strike will continue until the previous facilities are reinstated," said Abdur Rahman Babul, convener of the Officials and Employees Unity Council, which led the staff protest.

Following the staff's protest, the students again launched a protest programme, demanding the complete abolishment of the ward quota system, which prompted the JU administration to hold an emergency meeting on the matter.