RU dependent quota: Thousands of female students stage midnight protests

Thousands of female students at Rajshahi University have joined the ongoing protests demanding the abolition of the “dependent quota”, a policy that provides preferential treatment for faculty and staff’s children in university admissions. After 10pm on Saturday, students began leaving their hostels and joined the protesters in Zubery Bhawan and the administration building. By 11:30pm, several thousand students had marched out of their dorms to gather in front of the vice-chancellor’s residence, continuing the protest. The protesters are voicing two main demands: the cancellation of the dependent quota and the immediate scheduling of the RUCSU elections on Sept 25. Abu Hurayra, one of the protesters, said: “Our previous movement was aimed at ending discrimination, which we successfully achieved. However, after...