The approval was given at the weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at the Prime Minister's Office with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam briefed reporters at the secretariat.

“Now, the recruitment to the first and second class jobs (from grade-9 to grade-13) will be made directly on merit basis,” the cabinet secretary said adding the quota system will be there only in class-3 and class-4 jobs.

The Ministry of the Public Administration will be informed about the cabinet’s decision by today or tomorrow, and it will issue a gazette notification in this regard later, said Shafiul Alam.

On September 17, the Quota Review Committee, led by Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam, submitted its report to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recommending abolishment of the quota system from the 9th to 13th grades (1st class and 2nd class) of government jobs.

The cabinet secretary said the seven-member committee in its report also placed two other recommendations -- to make recruitment to the grade-9 (ex-1st class) and the grade 9-13 (ex-2nd class) government services on merit basis, and make proper decision in the future reviewing the impacts of quota abolishment on socio-economic condition of the exiting beneficiaries of the quota system after a certain time.

Explaining the third recommendation, he said if the necessity of quota becomes inevitable in any changed situation in the future the government may take steps again in this regard.

On July 2, the government formed the seven-member committee to review the existing quota system in public service.

 In April, students of public and private universities across the country waged a strong movement demanding reforms in the quota system in public service recruitment process.

In the face of the movement, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced in parliament on April 11 the abolition of all types of quotas in government jobs.