Education ministry asks for changes to ‘Sharifa’s Story’ in letter to textbook board

Students will still learn about the lives of ‘Hijra’ or ‘third gender’ people

The Ministry of Education has written to the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) to change the controversial ‘Story of Sharifa’ textbooks for the seventh standard, taking into consideration the recommendations of an expert committee.

After receiving the letter, the NCTB said that the story would be changed in the next academic year and that information about the Hijra community would be included in the textbooks for students.

Prof Md Moshiuzzaman, chairman of the NCTB, told bdnews24.com:

"The letter did not ask for the story to be dropped. It asked for corrections, modifications or a new story to be put in its place."

'The Story of Sharifa’ was included in the history and social science book for seventh grade in a section on 'human similarities and differences'.

Pages 39 and 40 of the book included a lesson on people of the 'third gender' or 'Hijra community', which includes people whose identities do not correspond to the male-female binary.

In January this year, there was a heated debate across the country, particularly on social media, regarding the lesson’s inclusion in the textbook.

The debate was sparked by Asif Mahtab, a part-time lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at BRAC University.

During a discussion on the new curriculum in the capital, he tore up the pages of that section of the textbook, alleging that the lesson 'encouraged homosexuality'. A video of the incident went viral on Facebook.

Amid the debate, a five-member committee was formed by the Ministry of Education to review 'The Story of Sharifa’.

Five months later, in May, the committee sent a recommendation to the education ministry to drop ‘The Story of Sharifa’.

Prof Moshiuzzaman says that, according to the instructions of the Ministry of Education, they will continue to inform students about the Hijra community.

"We will keep what we want to teach about the Hijra community. As there was a problem with Sharif-Sharifa, we will teach it differently."