The teachers, employees and students of Rajshahi University have locked horns over cancelling the existing ward quota for the children and grand-children of the university teachers, officials and employees for admission to undergraduate courses.
The teachers and employees are saying that they want the quota facility for their children and grandchildren as an ‘additional benefit’ along with their salary and other facilities while the students are saying that they will never accept such a ‘discriminatory’ quota facility for the university teachers and employees’ children and grandchildren.
They, however, decided to keep the three per cent ward quota for the children and grand-children of the university teachers, officials and employees.
Protesting at the university authorities’ decision and demanding immediate cancellation of the ward quota, a group of students started a hunger strike in front of the grave of Professor Syed Mohammad Shamsuzzoha on the same day.
The protesting students later postponed their hunger strike on the following day after the university top officials assured them of forming a committee to review the decision on retaining the ward quota for admission.
RU pro-vice-chancellor professor Mohammad Main Uddin said that the teachers, officials, and employees wanted to preserve the ward quota for their children and grandchildren for admission as an additional benefit along with their salaries and other facilities.
Professor Omar Faruk Sarker, general secretary of RU Teachers Association, meanwhile, told New Age that they had urged the university administration to increase ward quota for the children and grandchildren of the university teachers, officials, and employees to five per cent from the existing three per cent.
Contacted, Salauddin Ammar, one of the RU coordinators of the Student Movement Against Discrimination, said, ‘The university teachers, officials, and employees are not backward communities of society. The ward quota must be cancelled,’ he said.
source: NEW AGE
