The final review report on the much-talked-about “Sharifa's Story” may be produced within the next ten days and sent to the Ministry of Education, the review committee said.
The committee held a meeting at the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) building on Thursday to decide on “Sharifa's Story” in the history and social science textbook for Class VII. The members of the committee earlier sat in two virtual and direct meetings to discuss the review report.
When asked, Convener of the Committee and Vice-Chancellor of Islamic Arabic University Professor Muhammad Abdur Rashid said, “We have held a meeting for several hours. We have to scrutinise various aspects reviewed by the committee members. As it is Ramadan month, reporting may be a little late. However, I am trying to prepare a report and send it to the Ministry of Education within a week to ten days.
“Sharifa's Story” came into discussion on 19 January when BRAC University part-time teacher Asif Mahtab teared up pages containing a lesson on the third gender community in the history and social science textbook for Class VII and urged others to do the same. A video of the incident instantly went viral on social media. Fierce discussion and criticism spurred up across the country on the matter. In the wake of controversies, the Ministry of Education formed an expert committee on 24 January to review “Sharifa’s Story” and revise it if necessary.