Quran learning centre for hijras inaugurated
Members of the hijra community have started an Al-Quran learning centre in Mymensingh city, the first of its kind in Mymensingh division.
The three-month course, with 20 students currently enrolled in the first batch, has started and will, in phases, continue to include all members of the forum responsible for the initiative.
Hafez Maulana Mufti Mohammad Abdur Rahman Azad inaugurated the centre, Dawatul Quran, at the office of Setubandhan Kallyan Sangha, a forum of the hijra community, at the city's Khachari Ferry Ghat area on Saturday.
Ahmed Ferdous Bari Chowdhury Foundation, based in Dhaka's Kamrangirchar, will support the centre financially. Such a learning centre has been running at Kamrangirchar under the foundation and Maulana Abdur Rahman Azad is its founding director, said sources.
Mymensingh Municipality Mayor Ekramul Haque Titu was chief guest at the inauguration, and Tanu Hijra, the forum's president, was in the chair. Among others, the centre's teachers Mufti Golam Bhuiyan, Maulana Abdul Aziz Hosseni, Maulana Mamunur Rashid and Prof Md Nasir Uddin were present.
Talking to this correspondent, Tanu said with a goal to improve the community's lifestyle, they recently decided to start the centre, and finally, were successful in doing so.
"There has been a negative attitude among common people regarding our lifestyle, and we cannot easily march with mainstream society, resulting in negligence and deprivation in all respects," she said. "The learning will also develop our religious values."
There are 250 members in the forum, none of them have been involved in extortion. Tanu said that some members of other forums get involved in extortion, and the entire community has to bear the brunt of it.
Of the members, a good number of them work as cooks in different restaurants in and outside the city, while some others work for non-government organisations, she informed.
The members said on different occasions, they contacted local administration to get support for building a "hijra palli". With necessary financial support via soft loans, they could become self-reliant by rearing cows, goats and poultry, and running tailor shops.
Such pallis have been established in Dinajpur and Sirajganj, but they are deprived of many facilities, although pledges were made on various occasions, they lamented.
To lead a decent life, everyone needs necessary financial ability and a regular income source, they said.
The centre's teacher Mufti Bhuiyan said he learnt about such a centre for hijras in Dhaka through YouTube and inspired the hijras in Mymensingh to start a centre.
"I am enjoying providing my services for free, as it is a scope to work with a neglected group," he said, "They are very meritorious and can take in the lessons quickly."
Contacted, Md Saiful Islam, Sadar upazila nirbahi officer, said they have a plan to allot government land for hijras in Mymensingh.
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