DU Correspondent :
A Dhaka University (DU) student was allegedly shown absent despite her presence in viva of Bangla Department for not showing her face for maintaining veils.
The accident took place on September 14 when the viva board members asked to see her face, but the student disagree showing religious taboo.
“When I went to the viva voce board with wearing nikab, teachers asked me to sign my presence after removing the nikab. I repeatedly request them that I do not open my nikab in front of anyone who is not my Mahram,” the student alleged.She said, “I again requested them to identify me through looking face by madam and take my viva with wearing nikab. But they stuck to their decision and shown me absent for the last two semester viva.”
But the teachers claimed that according to the DU rules, the candidates are allowed to sit for the examination after identifying them by looking their face and ears. So we haven’t done anything out of the ordinary here and she was not shown absent in viva. She was given a chance to think everything over and come last Thursday.
However, Islami Chhatra Andolan Bangladesh staged a demonstration protesting the teachers behaviour for wearing nikab in front of Raju Memorial Sculpture and demanding to install biometric device for identifying students.
“Dhaka University is the center for cultivate universal cultural practice. Many students wear veils here and are harassed in various ways for it,” Yasin Arafat, president of the students body said.
“We have seen viva is being taken during the pandemic with wearing mask. Where then there was no problem. But why is there problem for wearing nikab? This is actually an act of insulting Islam,” he added.
