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| India-Pakistan |
| Indian students demand teachers wear burqas |
| 2010-07-30 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Students at an Islamic university in eastern India have refused to allow a female lecturer to teach unless she wears an all-encompassing Muslim veil, the teacher said Thursday. The student union has ordered all female students and all eight female lecturers at the small Calcutta campus of Aliah University to wear the veil, called a burqa in South Asia. Sirin Middya, who described herself as a devout Muslim, said she was appointed in March but has not been allowed to teach her classes since she refused to wear the garment, which covers the entire body and face. A mesh net covers the eyes. "The students have threatened us and have put up banners saying those who oppose the burqa rule can go back home," Middya said. Nearly a fourth of the population of West Bengal state, where the university is located, is Muslim, and burqas are a common sight in Islamic neighborhoods. But the garment is rare in much of India, a predominantly Hindu country, with a large Muslim minority, and it is unusual for it to cause a stir. Unlike in the West, where governments have moved to ban the burqa, Muslim dress is not typically a source of public debate. Middya said she had been hired to teach Bengali at the city campus but had been helping out as a librarian in a separate suburban campus of the university for the last three months. "I don't have a problem wearing the burqa, but when I wear it, it will be of my own free will," Middya said. Middya said she has written to the university authorities and West Bengal education minister to intervene after a new academic year began in July. University authorities were not immediately available for comment. However, Vice Chancellor Syed Shamshul Alam told the Indian Express newspaper that they have asked the teacher to shift to another campus of the university. "This is a stray incident. ... There is no dress code in our university," Alam said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 attend class and all that Little evidence of that. No one at Columbia remembers him. |
| Posted by: KBK 2010-07-30 15:16 |
| #7 in a country where most of the politicians purchased their degrees? Even our president didn't purchase his degree, WolfDog. He just upgraded due to his charm, but he actually had to get scholarships and attend class and all that. Had Senator John F. Kerry been able to purchase a degree, it would have been from Harvard Law, not merely Boston U. What we've got, in terms of too many of our degreed people, is men and women who learnt how to get degrees, but not how to think effectively, an entirely different problem. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-07-30 14:11 |
| #6 Politicians purchasing degrees is common in Pakistan where you must have a degree in order to stand for elections. In India, anybody can stand for elections. The former chief minister of Bihar (population - 80 million), Rabri Devi is illiterate. |
| Posted by: john frum 2010-07-30 13:58 |
| #5 #4 Anonymoose, how effective will academic punishment be, in a country where most of the politicians purchased their degrees? Posted by: trailing wife 2010-07-30 13:16 TW, could that portion of your comment (in bold type) also be applied to many of our politicians? Just askin' ya' know. |
| Posted by: WolfDog 2010-07-30 13:37 |
| #4 Anonymoose, how effective will academic punishment be, in a country where most of the politicians purchased their degrees? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-07-30 13:16 |
| #3 If they really wanted to leave a mark, they should find out who is responsible for this, then dock them a letter grade in every course for the semester. Then notify their parents that they are slumming, and on academic probation. Then require them to take her course, advising them that she knows who they are, so they had better be extra studious and polite. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-07-30 10:41 |
| #2 So instead of calling out the retards, they sweep it under the rug and look the other way while the less-than-desireables continue to terrorize and intimidate their way through life. |
| Posted by: miscellaneous 2010-07-30 02:58 |
| #1 The student union has ordered all female students and all eight female lecturers at the small Calcutta campus of Aliah University to wear the veil, called a burqa in South Asia. Can't you just feel the tolerance? The love? The respect? The same tolerance, love and respect that they demand when they are in the minority? Me neither. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-07-30 02:19 |