DU TSC withdraws notice barring entry of street children and dogs

The colonial British rules had hung up a notice banning entry of dogs and Indians at the Pahartali Club of Chattogram in 1932 and the same sort of despicable order was now seen at the main entrance of the Teacher-Student Center (TSC) of Dhaka University, with a little change.

At first, the TSC authorities hung up a notice saying no street children or dogs could be brought into the TSC. They removed it after the notice drew flak.

Several printed copies of the notice were hung on the main gate of the TSC. The notice stated, “All are requested not to enter TSC with street children or dogs. By ordered of the TSC authorities”

However, the notice was removed around 9:45pm on Sunday.

The notice sparked protest among students. A DU alumni, Mir Arshadul Haque, took to social media to protest the notice. Arshadul Haque, in a Facebook post on Sunday evening, wrote, “There is a notice hanging on the TSC gate stating entry with dog and street children is prohibited. That can be rule but the words ‘dogs and street children’ seems uncivilized. It would be good if anyone brings the matter to the attention of the authorities and takes action.”

As the social media post gave rise to criticism against the notice, the TSC authorities removed the notice.

Several employees of the TSC said that it had not been their decision and the notice was hung at the instruction of TSC administrative officer Md Rafiqul Islam. It was later removed by the order of the authorities.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Rafiqul Islam said this had been a typing error.

“Having received complaints from the students, we instructed the employees to issue two separate notices on not entering the TSC along with street children and dogs, but the employees could not understand it and mentioned ‘street children and dogs’ in a single notice. The notice was removed later since it looked very objectionable,” he added.