Students protest alleged discriminatory behaviour by DU teacher

A group of students staged a protest against Tasneem Siraj Mahboob, an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Dhaka, alleging that she had treated students in a “discriminatory” manner in the classroom.

The protest was held in a classroom of the department at noon on Monday. The protesters are final-semester postgraduate students of the Department of English.

The students protested with black cloth covering their mouths and by displaying red cards. They said the programme was organised to protest what they described as discriminatory, racist, unjust and hypocritical behaviour by Tasneem Siraj Mahboob towards students in the classroom.

Md Naim Hossain, who took part in the protest, told Prothom Alo that Tasneem Siraj Mahboob had made objectionable remarks about a female student wearing a niqab during a postgraduate class on 7 October. He had also made objectionable comments about six male students sitting on the same bench during the class.

Later, the teacher posted a video statement on Facebook explaining his position. In the statement, she presented a one-sided account, Naim alleged. The students also observed that teachers sharing similar views were trying to defend Tasneem Siraj Mahboob. Monday’s protest was organised against these developments, he said.

Students from various departments of the university are also protesting the incident by covering their mouths with black cloth and posting photographs on social media.

Asked for comment, Tasneem Siraj Mahboob told Prothom Alo that she had nothing to say on the matter. She said she believed the protests were a reaction to a statement made on Sunday by Samina Luthfa, a professor in the Department of Sociology, who had protested attempts to curtail teachers’ freedom in the classroom and the harassment of teachers for expressing dissenting views.

Following written complaints from students, an emergency meeting of the Department of English on 8 October decided to suspend Tasneem Siraj Mahboob from teaching. The courses he had been teaching were distributed among other teachers.

On 10 October, Tasneem Siraj Mahboob presented his account of the incident in a video statement posted on his Facebook account. She said she had not instructed the student wearing a niqab to change her clothes, remove her niqab or leave the classroom. Rather, she had difficulty identifying her and communicating effectively because she could not see her eyes. She said she had expressed his discomfort over the situation.

On 11 October, Samina Luthfa staged a five-minute silent protest in a classroom, covering her mouth with black cloth, against attempts to curtail teachers’ freedom in the classroom and the harassment of teachers for expressing dissenting views. She later described the protest in a post on her personal Facebook account.