Group of students demand annulment of transgender quota in DU admission

A section of Dhaka University (DU) students on Thursday held a human chain demanding annulment of the transgender quota in admission to the university.

They held the protest programme at the base of Raju Memorial Sculpture on the campus at 11:00am.

The protesters claimed that the university indirectly promoted homosexuality and perverse sexuality through the introduction of the special quota.
They said they had no problem giving a quota opportunity to hermaphrodite, locally known as Hijra, who have a congenital issue.

However, the agitators were obstructed by a few assistant proctors of the university in front of the Vice-Chancellors residence while they headed to the Administrative Building of the university to hand over a memorandum to Vice-Chancellor Prof ASM Maksud Kamal. Later on, a three-member delegation met the Vice-Chancellor and had a discussion while he was accompanied by a group of teachers, supporting the transgender quota.

Prof Maksud said the university authorities also hold the same sentiment that students raised voice about.

"We shall not allow those who intentionally transform their gender from male to female or vice-versa to take the opportunity of the transgender quota," Prof Maksud said.

He said, "We have introduced the quota to consider the underprivileged students who have complexity of inborn sexual identity. We don want them to lag behind."

The protesters then demanded to replace the word ransgender with hermaphrodite so that none could take advantage of the debatable term (transgender).

The agitating students further said trans culture is a part of the movement -- LGBTQ, an acronym used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning persons or the community.

Sakhawat Zakaria, a Law Department student, said, "Hermaphrodite, locally known as Hijra and transgender are not the same. But using the empathy of the Hijra community, trans brains are being given opportunities in the university. Only those who belong to backward community can claim quota. But on what logic the transgender quota has been introduced without any sort of physical restriction is incomprehensible."

They suspected it might precipitate LGBTQ movement, a liberal eye on all kinds of sexualities which is immensely abnormal in Bangladeshi culture so far.