Students from Dhaka University (DU) and Jahangirnagar University (JU) held protests on Monday against the reinstatement of the quota system in government jobs.

At DU, a procession of general students demanded the abolition of the system. Meanwhile, JU students blocked the Dhaka-Aricha Highway to press the same demand. The scrapping of the quota system has been a popular demand among general students, who believe it deprives them of lucrative government jobs and argue that recruitments should be based solely on merit.

Until 2018, a significant 56 percent of government jobs were reserved under various quotas for the children of freedom fighters, women, different districts, ethnic minorities, and differently-abled people. Faced with student protests, the Cabinet recommended abolishing quotas. However, on June 5, the High Court declared the 2018 circular abolishing the freedom fighter quota in government jobs illegal.