Visually impaired Bangladeshi graduates ask government to restore job quotas for disabled people

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – A good number of visually impaired young educated people in Bangladesh formed a chain of human hands in the capital Dhaka on Friday to demand that the government reinstate the 5% job quotas for disabled people, which was abolished about four years ago.

The Bangladesh government abolished all 5% job quotas for disabled people, including those who were visually impaired, in government jobs in 2018 after irregularities and corruption in employment were found.

Nearly 100 young graduates and post-graduates from reputed universities gathered near the Secretariat Office building and formed a chain of human hands as a protest to remind the government of its responsibility, just a day before the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which will be observed globally on Saturday.

Speakers at the protest blasted the government for "arrogantly" abolishing the entire quota system rather than addressing irregularities and punishing corrupt officials.

Overpopulation has long caused unemployment in the south Asian delta nation of nearly 170 million people.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) reports that the country has nearly 3.6 million unemployed people. In this situation, one of the government's priorities for controlling unemployment is to export human resources.

"Because we have no way of going abroad for work, it is our right to get jobs here based on our abilities," one of the visually impaired young educated people said during his speech at the occasion.

"We are frequently denied jobs because of our blindness," said Mohammad Mahbub Morshed, a Dhaka University graduate who joined other visually impaired people in pressing the government for their right to survive.

He told Anadolu Agency that “through hard competition, we got the chance at different public universities and completed our honors and master’s degrees with good scores. To meet job market requirements, we have also learned other professional skills such as computer knowledge. Unfortunately, we are not being selected.”

"Despite fulfilling all requirements and properly facing the viva, I was denied a job in the government-run university for my only weakness of visual disability," he claimed, adding that most public and private institutes in the job market have a similar attitude.

Others had similar bitter experiences while speaking with Türkiye's leading news agency.

"It is not my crime to be blind. I am a human being, and if I am capable, I must have the right to work," Miftahul Jannat, a graduate of another prestigious institute in the country, told Anadolu Agency. “Blindness cannot be used to disqualify me from exercising my right,” she said.

These visually impaired graduates were also carrying various festoons and banners with their demands written on them.

They claimed that nearly 500 visually impaired students across the country have completed their higher education and are now looking for work in order to live with rights and dignity.

In addition, nearly 200 others are currently enrolled in various universities and academic institutes for higher education throughout the country.

"We live in a country of nearly 170 million people, with a large job market. We can all serve the country with our best efforts if the government manages just nearly 500 jobs for us. Our abilities should not be rejected arbitrarily," said another graduate, Ashraful Islam.

He told Anadolu Agency that he is barely getting by on a coaching center job.

In a written statement, these young educated people also urged the government to increase the monthly allowance for economically disadvantaged disabled people to Bangladeshi Taka 5,000 (approximately $50) from the current Taka 850 (less than $9).

They urged the authorities not to view them as a burden and to allow them to contribute to the country's skilled human resources.​​​​​​​