DU English Dept students stage red-card protest against Tasneem Siraj

A group of students from the Department of English at Dhaka University staged a protest today against Associate Professor Tasneem Siraj Mahboob, accusing her of discriminatory behaviour towards students in the classroom.

The protest took place around noon at the department and was attended by master's students.

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The protesters covered their mouths with black cloth and held up red cards, saying the demonstration was organised against what they described as the teacher’s discriminatory, unjust and hypocritical behaviour.

Mohammad Naim Hossain, one of the protesters, alleged that Tasneem made objectionable remarks about a female student wearing a niqab during a master's class on October 7. He also claimed that the teacher made objectionable comments about six male students sitting on the same bench during the class.

Naim said Tasneem later posted a video statement on Facebook explaining her position but presented one-sided account of the incident.

He added that they began protesting after seeing some teachers attempt to defend her.

The demonstration came days after the department decided to remove Tasneem from teaching duties following written complaints from students. At an emergency meeting last Thursday, the Department of English decided not to assign her any classes. The courses she had been teaching were subsequently redistributed among other faculty members.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Tasneem said the incident occurred during a master's final-semester class on October 7.

According to her statement, a student was sitting near the classroom door with two other female students, her face fully covered, including her eyes. Tasneem said she could not immediately identify the student because her eyes were not visible. She added that the student left the classroom after being told that the face covering made her uncomfortable because she could not see the student’s eyes.