Condemning what it called the government’s promotion of trans people through textbooks, the Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB) has demanded certain changes to the new national curriculum.
It came despite the government taking measures to review a chapter called “The Story of Sharifa” following widespread criticism after Brac University sacked a part-time teacher for tearing apart some pages of the chapter in a seventh-grade book.
The IAB, which has been vocal against the new curriculum since last year, held a rally on the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque premises in Dhaka after the Jumma prayers on Friday.
It also brought out a procession carrying banners and placards, mostly protesting “homosexuality through the chapter featuring a transgender person" in Purana Paltan area.
One of the placards reads: “Transformation of Islamic universities will not be accepted.”
IAB Senior Nayeb-e-Ameer Syed Muhammad Faizul Karim, addressing the rally, said efforts are underway to create an anti-Islamic and pro-atheist nation, destroying the country’s education system.
Alleging that India is behind an aggression on the country’s education and culture, Faizul said: “The prime minister has to clarify whether or not she defends transgender people.
“The transgender issue has been incorporated into the curriculum of a nation with 92% Muslims,” he said, terming the move as the promotion of homosexuality under the pretext of highlighting transpeople.
Faizul claimed that chapters in the textbooks featuring prominent Muslim figures are being “removed” these days.
He demanded the reinstatement of the job of Brac University’s sacked teacher, Asif Mahtab. “If not, we’ll boycott all institutions linked to Brac."
The IAB issued the same threat on January 22.
Developments so far
On January 22, Asif told journalists that the authorities had terminated him and asked him not to come to the university “without assigning any reason."
But the university said on the same day that Mahtab served as a contractual teacher. “However, he is currently not under any contract with the university,” it added.
On January 19, Asif, at a seminar on the new education curriculum in Dhaka, tore out some pages of the chapter in question while alleging that the government is promoting transgender people and homosexuality, drawing mixed reactions from different quarters. The seminar was organized by the National Teachers’ Forum.
The education minister pledged on January 22 to fix the issue if any such “confusion” is found there.
The government on Wednesday formed a five-member high-level expert committee to review the chapter. On Thursday, a legal notice was sent to the government seeking the removal of the chapter.
Also on Thursday, the BNP said the government is destroying the education system in a planned manner by introducing an anti-national curriculum.
IAB’s long, rigid stance
The Islamist group has long been protesting the country’s school curricula.
On November 22, 2022, it accused the government of dropping Islam from the curriculum and encouraging atheists.
At a press conference in January last year, the IAB said the new textbooks are imposing the "debatable" Darwin's theory of evolution on students and demeaning the purdah (veil) system for women.
They raised the issue again alongside other demands before the parliamentary election.
Hefazat joins the party
Hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islami on Tuesday urged the government to refrain from enacting a proposed law protecting transgender persons’ rights, saying it went against Islam.
Hefazat slammed the theory of transgender as “cursed” and a “mental distortion.”
Hefazat's advice to textbook planners led to the removal of progressive writers' writings in 2017.
Many of the changes could still be found in the books despite “corrections” in 2018.
