Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni has said that now is not the time to talk about the length of women's clothing.

She said, "The world is now moving forward, we need to talk about robotics science, we will talk about artificial intelligence. Now is not the time to talk about the length of women's dresses. Nor can there be any debate about whether there is a teep on the forehead or not."

The education minister made the comment during a view exchange meeting with the representatives of the Education Reporters Association, Bangladesh (Erab) in the conference room of the ministry on Monday (29 August). 

Leaders of Bangladesh Education Reporters Forum (BERF), an organisation of education reporters, participated in the meeting.

Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said, "Communal conflicts are happening in some institutions. A few days ago there were talks about wearing teep. Now again there is talk about the clothes of female students. These were settled issues in Bangladesh. In what interests, in whose interests and who are raising such new questions and creating issues?"

Mentioning that there were people of Sanatan religion and Buddhism in this land for thousands of years, she said, "People of Christianity have come to this region, their numbers have increased. Islam came, spread here. This land was home to people of all religions, cultures and 17 languages. A single nation, state, was born through a great movement based on one language in this land. We fought for secularism with so much bloodshed. This is a settled issue."

"In this land of ours, people of sanatan religion do ulu dhoni, it is a part of our culture. Here in weddings, holuds [event for putting turmeric on body] are held. Is it a part of the Muslim wedding? There is nothing more in the Muslim wedding than saying kobul, being present as witnesses and praying. Those who are going crazy by saying that Islam dictates the length of dresses, this length should be this much, we see that during the wedding of their sons and daughters they are observing all events including holuds," she added.

Referring to these parts of the culture, the education minister said, "If we accept culture, but don't accept wearing teep, letting boys and girls learn songs, reciting poetry - this is hypocrisy. We all know who is promoting this duplicity in the society. We just don't say it out loud. If I want secularism in my society, if I want everyone's rights, everyone's right to speak, everyone's right to move freely; then this evilness, superstition and backwardness cannot exist."