Bangladeshi students seek dismissal of gay teacher
Human rights advocates have come to the defense of a teacher in Bangladesh whose job at a secondary school is at risk because he is gay. The teacher denies students’ accusations that he propositioned and molested them.
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The Bangladeshi human rights organization JusticeMakers Bangladesh expressed concern and anger over the attempt to expel the gay teacher, Aminul Islam, from his position as senior lecturer in the geography department of Bhalum Ataur Rahman Khan Degree College in Dhamrai, Dhaka.
Justice Makers Bangladesh demanded action against his accusers after a “quick and impartial investigation”.
The advocacy organization noted that, according to the online newspaper RisingBD.com on Nov. 2, a complaint from 30 students about Aminul Islam’s homosexuality was sent to Hossain Mohammad Hi Joki, president of the school’s governing body.
Joki named an investigating committee headed by another lecturer of the college, Habibur Rahman Habib. The investigators supported the students.
“What I found in the investigation cannot be expressed in words,” he said. “I have found the truth of the complaints of the victims against that lecturer.”
THe report of the investigating committee was submitted last month, but the college administration has not yet acted on the students’ complains.
Gay rights advocate Shahanur Islam, founder of JusticeMakers Bangladesh, said the students are seeking to expel XX from the school merely because he is gay, which would be a clear violation of his fundamental human rights declared by the United Nations.
This is far from the first incident of discrimination against Bangladeshi teachers on the basis of their sexual orientation. Shahanur Islam recalled:
- In August, Ramzan Ali, a teacher of the Islamic Education Department of Savar Model College, was instructed to stop teaching classes there after students boycotted classes to protest his homosexuality. He was accused of having a homosexual encounter with a student 14 years ago.
- Last May, Mizanur Rahman, a teacher in the pharmacy department of Barisal Institute of Health Technology, was given a temporary suspension after he was accused of propositioning students.
Shahanur Islam says such incidents are part of a pattern of anti-LGBTQ discrimination, murder, injuries and human rights violations throughout Bangladesh.
