With religious intolerance and bigotry spreading its wings far and wide in the world, Bangladeshi teachers have become the new target of those who can not stand for healthy discussion and constructive discourse.
Shockingly, those who could not sustain it are hardly adults of 16-18 years of age whose minds are still getting accustomed to a wider array of subjects.
Teaching is a noble profession that shapes the character, calibre, and future of an individual. For good ideas and true innovation, one needs human interaction as well as healthy conflict, arguments, and debate.
It was not long ago when Hriday Chandra Mondal, an assistant teacher at Binodpur Ram Kumar High School in Munshiganj, languished in jail for 19 days before getting out on bail on April 10.
School teacher Hriday Chandra Mondal was granted bail by a district and sessions judges court in Bangladesh after being denied twice since his arrest on March 22.
That his academic discourse landed him time in jail is disturbing. Mondal was arrested on the charges of “hurting religious sentiments” where interestingly, he was only discussing the distinction between religion and science with his students.
Smriti Singh, deputy regional director for South Asia at Amnesty International said: “It is outrageous that a teacher finds himself behind bars simply for voicing his opinion while teaching a class. Teachers should be free to discuss ideas and opinions of all kinds without fear of reprisals. Hriday must be released immediately and unconditionally.”
In another haunting incident, Swapan Kumar Biswas, a Hindu principal of Mirzapur United College in Narail was forced to wear a garland of torn shoes by fanatics for defending a student on social media who supported Nupur Sharma, former spokesperson of India’s ruling party, BJP. The dreadful event occurred on June 17.
Rahmat Ullah Rony, the main accused in the case was charged over assaulting the acting principal from Khulna. Surprisingly, the incident happened in front of hundreds of police personnel. Angry Muslim locals and students even set the motorcycles of the principal and two teachers on fire.
The accused of these appalling incidents are minors who have not yet been exposed to the horizons of life, yet could not tolerate a healthy discussion. The role of a teacher is to make you look at things with different perspectives. Unfortunately, it appears that Bangladeshi students are finding it hard to digest perspectives as religion has taken a toll over them.
In another incident, Utpal Kumar Sarkar (35) was brutally murdered by Ashraful Islam Jitu (19) with a cricket stump on June 25, 2022. Utpal was a school teacher in the department of Political Science of Haji Yunus Ali School and College, Chitrashail, in Savar, Dhaka.
The student brought a cricket stump and kept it hidden behind the classroom. When Kumar was watching a cricket match standing alone at a corner of the college field, the student came up and hit him on the head from behind. Later, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the prime accused from the Sreepur area of Gazipur.
These horrific incidents are not only corroding the social fabric of the nation, but at the same time, pushing the nation towards degradation. Fellow students are becoming the victims of adverse psychological effects, and a sense of fear has settled among the teachers.
Teachers are now refraining from discussing sensitive topics like religion and God as consequences could be fatal for them. What the authorities are doing to cease such attacks is the vital question.
Scrutinizing such frightful incidents and the negligence of the police along with school authorities is a serious matter of concern at hand. Students should understand that while political differences will always generate healthy debate, over time, the dialogue has become more hateful, and at times, violent.
Zafar Bashir is a freelance journalist from Karachi, Pakistan and a senior fellow at the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).
