Bangladesh’s interim government of Muhammad Yunus is once again facing the public’s wrath—this time for bowing to what they call Islamic fascism.
The furore is over the administration’s decision to scrap plans to hire music and physical education teachers for primary schools.
On November 3, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Primary and Mass Education revoked two teacher positions for music and physical education.
These posts were introduced in 2020 and approved by the Ministry of Public Administration in 2024. They were aimed at strengthening children's physical and mental development while fostering cultural values and creative learning.
Yunus makes U-turn
But the government quietly made a U-turn after Islamist groups, including Hefazat-e-Islam and Islami Andolon Bangladesh, called the job posts "un-Islamic".
They had even threatened street unrest if the government proceeded with plans to introduce music and dance into primary education.
The Yunus government had to relent, sparking protests across universities and civil society.
On Thursday, students and professors took to the streets of Dhaka, demanding that the government reinstate job posts for physical education and music teachers.
They called the policy shift a betrayal and dubbed the move “cultural fascism”.
The government, however, defended the move. Yunus administration's spokesperson, Masud Akhtar Khan, said that a small number of posts would not have yielded “effective results".
Post-Hasina Bangladesh
But the shift reflects a wider trend in post-Sheikh Hasina Bangladesh.
Critics have been accusing Yunus of yielding to hardline Islamic groups, who have become seemingly emboldened in pushing their conservative agenda.
Just recently, there have been calls to ban the Hindu religious organisation ISKCON in Bangladesh, by tagging it an “extremist organisation".
Earlier this year, far-right groups also threatened violence if the government implemented recommendations of a women’s reform commission.
