Mawlana Bhashani Uni students block highway in Tangail

Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University (MBSTU) students on Saturday blocked the Dhaka-Tangail Highway to protest the recent High Court verdict reinstating the quota system. 

MBSTU students took up positions in the Jolpai area of Tangail city bypass on the highway, causing an almost 20-kilometre-long tailback from Natiyapara to Elenga. 

"We don't want to spend the whole day on the road to demonstrate, we want to study," the protesting students claimed. "But we have no other way. Because of the quota system, meritorious students will not get any employment and will leave the country. They will also lose the will to take government jobs."

On June 5, the High Court termed illegal a 2018 government circular abolishing the quota system. The decision to reinstate the quota system was also upheld by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on July 4. The decision triggered anti-quota protests at universities across the country.