The government on Saturday cancelled the recently formed textbook review committee following criticism from different Islamist parties and groups.
The decision came after Islamist political parties Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish demanded inclusion of Islamic scholars in the committee.
Different Islamic groups also demanded exclusion of two members of the committee鈥擠haka University physics department professor Md Kamrul Hassan and sociology department associate professor Samina Luthfa.
Protests against the demand of excluding the two members were also held on Saturday where the protesters alleged that some vested quarters for their own interest were blaming some committee members of supporting homosexuality and Islamophobia.
An office order, issued by the Secondary and Higher Education Division under the education ministry on Saturday, read that the division cancelled the committee formed on September 15 to review and amend all textbooks of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board.
The order was signed by the division senior assistant secretary Md Yeanur Rahman.
The committee鈥檚 convener Secondary and Higher Education Division additional secretary KM Kabirul Islam told 抖阴精品 on Saturday that the decision was taken following an order from the education ministry.
鈥業 do not know the reason behind the decision of cancellation of the committee,鈥� he added.
Earlier, the education ministry formed the 10-member committee comprising education researcher Rakhal Raha, Dhaka University鈥檚 Bangla department professor Mohammad Azam,聽 professor Md Kamrul Hassan, and associate professor Samina Luthfa, primary and mass education ministry additional secretary Masud Akhter Khan, National Curriculum and Textbook Board chairman professor AKM Reazul Hassan, member (curriculum) professor Rabiul Kabir Chowdhury, and member (primary curriculum) professor AFM Sarwar Jahan, and member secretary education ministry senior assistant secretary Md Yeanur Rahman.
The committee was tasked with reviewing the textbooks for finding out the proper reflection of the curriculum鈥檚 aim and objective, the country鈥檚 culture, history, tradition, social and moral values, religious beliefs and providing recommendations of necessary reforms.
In a statement issued on September 22, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami demanded inclusion of at least two Islamic scholars in the committee as the party alleged that many irrelevant and anti-Islamic contents were included in the textbooks in the past 17 years.聽
On September 23, in a statement Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish also made the same demand of inclusion of two Islamic scholars in the committee to ensure inclusion of Islamic educative contents.
In social media, As Sunnah Foundation chairman Sheikh Ahmadullah in a post alleged that professor Kamrul Hassan and associate professor Samina Luthfa were religion haters and demanded their removal.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Dhaka University reported that a rally of teachers, students and guardians was held on Saturday afternoon at Shahbagh demanding the swift revision of textbooks.
Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigosthi vice president Jamshed Anwer said that Samina Lutfha and Kamrul Hassan stood as shields for the students during the mass uprising yet Ahmadullah raised questions about them.
He alleged that Ahmadullah was a close associate of the S Alam Group.
Dhaka University economics department assistant professor Rushad Faridi said that when people were being disappeared, murdered, and banks were being looted, the ones who remained silent are the same people who were making noise about homosexuality and Islamophobia.
Writer and researcher Harunur Rashid alleged that the government was sheltering the misogynists.
In a joint statement issued on Saturday, Socialist Women鈥檚 Forum and Charon Sangskritik Kendra protested against the demand of the 鈥榝undamentalists鈥� to exclude two Dhaka University teachers tagging them as 鈥業slamophobic鈥�
They demanded the freedom of expression and action against those who were attempting to re-establish fascist rule again.
After the ouster of the Awami League-led government on August 5, the interim government took decision to go back to the national curriculum of 2012 mostly from the next year and adopt a fully reviewed curriculum from 2026 by scraping the 2022 curriculum altogether.