Overview

• An August 28 directive signed by deputy higher education minister Ziaur Rahman Aryoubi forbids teaching, citing or using the listed books and tells universities to use materials that "do not conflict with Islam."
• Authorities also removed 18 subjects and placed 201 more under review, targeting areas such as constitutional law, human rights, gender and development, democracy, journalism and Western political thought.
• The banned list spans nearly every faculty, with cited examples from law, social sciences, journalism, theology and medicine, including widely used texts by both Western and regional scholars.
• Academic and industry sources warn universities lack substitutes for many core texts, while a 14-member culture ministry committee continues broader reviews after earlier book confiscations in major cities.
• According to BBC reporting cited by the Indian Express, a review panel member said books authored by women are not being allowed and many Iranian works are being excluded, prompting lecturers to warn of a deepening knowledge gap.