Hartal called in Rangamati over ‘quota bias’ in primary teacher recruitment

Protesters say the district council has ignored the 7 percent quota rule for the hill region

A group of jobseekers has announced a hartal in Rangamati from 6am Thursday to 6pm Friday, alleging quota discrimination in the district council’s recruitment of primary assistant teachers.

The call came at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon at a restaurant in Banorupa under the banner of the “Anti-Quota Unity Alliance, general students, and conscious citizens”.

Protesters Ibrahim Rubel, Rakib Hasan, Nurul Alam, Rubel Hossain, Rezaul Karim Raju, and Imam Hossain spoke on behalf of the group, saying their calls for fair recruitment had yielded no response from the Rangamati Hill District Council.

According to them, the vacancy notice did not mention any quota provisions or clearly state the number of posts.

They alleged that instead of following the government’s 7 percent quota for the hill region, the council had moved to apply a 70 percent “tribal” and 30 percent “Bengali” quota formula, which they termed “unacceptable”.

They demanded recruitment based on merit and qualification, saying they would not accept what they described as “discrimination” and “merit suppression” in the name of quotas.

During the hartal on Nov 20-21, the group called for all government and private offices, educational institutions, transport and businesses in the district town to remain closed, while allowing emergency services to operate.

Rangamati Hill District Council Chairman Kajal Talukder said he had heard about the hartal call.

“They will do their work, we will continue ours,” he added.

Under the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, the government administers 28 departments in the region through the district councils, including the primary education department.

Around 7,000 applicants are scheduled to sit the written test for primary assistant teacher recruitment on Nov 21.