Bangladesh defends textbook explaining trans rights: ‘they are a neglected part of society’
- Islamist groups stage protests demanding for the changes to be scrapped, saying they promote gender transitioning and homosexuality
- New textbooks would encourage more understanding of transgender people in Bangladesh, education official says
Hundreds demonstrated in the capital Dhaka last week demanding that the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) scrap the changes, in the books for children aged between 11 and 13.
One section of the new history and social science book narrates the story of a child called Sharif who transitions, takes the female name Sharifa and goes to live with other transgender people.
Responding to the criticism, NCTB official Mohammad Mashiuzzaman said the textbooks reflected a softening of attitudes and changes in the legal status of transgender people in Bangladesh, and would encourage more understanding.
“We’ve included the topic of transgender people because they are a neglected part of our society. Often, they are ousted from their homes,” Mashiuzzaman said. “This textbook writing about transgender people is to mainstream them.”
In 2014, the Bangladeshi government allowed people to identify themselves as belonging to a third gender, and it has in recent years given them broader rights in areas such as housing and higher education.
Several Islamic clerics have even issued decrees declaring them part of the country’s Muslim mainstream. Several trans people have contested and won local elections.