Staff Reporter :
Students across Bangladesh erupted in mass protest on Thursday after the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division upheld a High Court verdict reinstating the quota system in government jobs, rejecting an appeal from the state that had sought to preserve the 2018 circular abolishing it.
Braving heavy monsoon rain, students from universities and colleges in Dhaka and beyond poured into the streets, staging sit-ins, blocking highways, and rallying under the banner of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.
The protests, marked by anger and defiance, swept across major campuses and highways, with demonstrators declaring that the ruling amounted to a betrayal of the youth’s demand for merit-based opportunities.
In Dhaka, thousands of students began gathering outside the central library of Dhaka University around 11:30 in the morning. Marching through the gates of Masterda Surja Sen Hall and Haji Muhammad Mohsin Hall, they circled the Vice Chancellor’s office and the Raju Memorial Sculpture before converging at the Shahbagh intersection.
The intersection remained blocked for nearly six hours as demonstrators chanted slogans and held placards rejecting the reintroduction of quotas.
At the end of the blockade in the early evening, student leaders returned to the Raju Memorial Sculpture and announced a fresh three-day programme, vowing to continue their movement until the reinstated quota system was scrapped.
Protests flared far beyond the capital. At Jahangirnagar University, students blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway near the campus main gate, causing traffic to come to a standstill.
In Puran Dhaka, students of Jagannath University staged a demonstration at the Ray Shaheb Bazar intersection, while students from Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University gathered at Agargaon intersection.
Chittagong University students blocked the Chattogram-Khagrachhari highway. Demonstrations were also reported from Rajshahi University on the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway, from Khulna University at Zero Point, and from Islamic University along the Kushtia-Khulna highway.
In Cumilla, students protested on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, bringing vehicular movement to a halt.
The protests followed a June 5 High Court verdict declaring the 2018 circular that abolished quotas in government jobs illegal, a ruling that triggered widespread debates online and revived fears of politicised recruitment.
The government appealed the decision, but the Supreme Court’s refusal to stay the High Court order only deepened student frustration.
At Dhaka University, protesters accused leaders of the ruling party’s student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League, of attempting to obstruct the movement by locking dormitory gates and confining students in so-called “guest rooms.” Protesters later broke the locks and freed their peers to join the demonstration.
Student coordinator Nahid Islam slammed the judiciary’s ruling as emblematic of dysfunction within the state.
“In 2018, the executive branch abolished the quota through a circular. Now, the judiciary has reinstated it. This is a mockery of the students and a sign of complete disarray within the state apparatus,” he said.
The student movement, initially driven by job seekers, has expanded rapidly through social media coordination.
Dhaka University students from each department and batch began issuing joint statements in solidarity with the movement’s call to boycott classes and exams, inspiring similar declarations from other campuses across the country.
Under intense public scrutiny and growing unrest, students announced they would begin university-wide demonstrations on July 6 and enforce a nationwide strike, including class and exam boycotts, on July 7. Friday would be reserved for outreach and coordination efforts, both online and offline.
