A probe committee, formed by the education ministry, has recommended the removal of the story titled "Sharifa's Tale" from the chapter on human resemblance and difference in the seventh-grade history and social science textbook.

The chapter was prepared in light of the new curriculum to create public awareness about transgender people.

The matter came to the fore after an adjunct faculty member of BRAC University tore the pages of the textbook containing the story at an event. The video of the incident went viral on social media.

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The fight for ‘The Story of Sharifa’

On January 24, the education ministry formed a five-member probe committee to review "Sharifa's Tale".

A member of the committee, preferring to remain unnamed, told The Daily Star last night that the committee's report was submitted to the education ministry in the first week of May.

The committee had cited various "errors" as reason for recommending the removal of the story, the member said, adding that the final decision rested with the ministry.

The committee was headed by Prof Abdul Rashid, vice chancellor of the Islamic Arabic University, with four others, namely -- Mufti Maulana Kafil Uddin Sarker, governor of the Islamic Foundation; Prof Moshiuzzaman, member of the NCTB; Abdul Halim, director of the Institute of Education and Research at Dhaka University; and Prof Mohammad Abdur Rashid, principal of Dhaka Alia Madrasa.

The formation of the committee also sparked criticism, as some academicians and rights activists believed that it went against the spirit of the secular country.