Teacher wins fight against burqa diktat

Aug 10, 2010 |

IANS

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A teacher at West Bengal's first Muslim University, who was not allowed to hold classes after she defied the students' union diktat to wear a burqa, has finally won her battle following the intervention of a state minister.

Sirin Middya, 24, was assigned to library duty at the Aliah University on the insistence of the students' union which objected to Sirin's refusal to wear a burqa in class, University sources said. The Union had issued a directive in April that the eight women teachers must wear a burqa to class. The university authorities, at the intervention of West Bengal Minority Affairs minister, Mr Abdus Sattar, have now asked Sirin to resume classes, the sources said. However, they have not specified when she will start teaching. The Vice-Chancellor, Syed Shamsul Alam, was urged to allow Sirin to resume teaching since there was no dress code at the university, they said. The students union has now said that the teacher could take classes if she is dressed 'decently'. "We have no objection to the teacher taking classes in a decent dress," the Union general secretary, Mr Hasanur Zaman, said.

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