Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday slammed the “shockingly regressive” and “misogynist” passage regarding women in the CBSE’s English exam question paper during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha. Soon after Sonia’s outburst, the CBSE withdrew the controversial paper.
The Congress leader demanded the withdrawal of “the gender-insensitive” passage in the English paper of the Class 10th CBSE exam and asked for an apology from the Education Ministry and the CBSE.
“...Women gaining independence is the main reason for a wide variety of social and family problems,” Sonia quoted the passage from question paper in the exam conducted on November 12, 2021.
Sonia said such a passage reflects “extremely poor standards of testing and exam” and “today’s education” and sought a study on gender sensitivity in the curriculum.
“I add my voice to the concerns of students, parents, teachers, and I raise strong objections to such blatant misogynist material finding its way into an important examination conducted by the CBSE. It reflects extremely poorly on the standards of education and testing and it goes against all norms and principles of a progressive and empowered society,” she said.
Sonia said the entire passage is “riddled with” regressive ideas.
After the Congress president’s comments, the Opposition wanted a response from the Government which was not allowed by Speaker Om Birla saying that was not the practice in the House. Subsequently, members from the Congress, the Left and the DMK, and others from the Opposition staged a walkout.
The English question paper carried a comprehension passage with sentences like “emancipation of women destroyed the parent’s authority over the children” and “it was only by accepting her husband’s way that a mother could gain obedience over the younger ones”, among others.
Soon after Sonia’s attack and outrage from eminent women personalities, including Parliamentarians, on social media and other platforms, CBSE “dropped” the controversial passage. The board said it will award full marks to all students for passage No.1 for all sets of the question paper to ensure parity among them.
The CBSE had referred the matter to subject experts on Sunday and sought their feedback. “A passage in one set of the English language and literature paper of the CBSE Class-10 first-term examination held on December 11 is not in accordance with the guidelines of the board with regard to the setting of question papers.”
“In this backdrop and on the basis of the feedback received from the stakeholders, the matter was referred to a committee of subject experts. According to the panel’s recommendation, it has been decided to drop the passage and the accompanying questions,” CBSE Exam Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj said.
“Full marks will be awarded for this passage to all the students concerned. To ensure uniformity and parity, full marks will also be awarded to students for passage number one for all sets of the question paper,” he added.
The CBSE issued a statement on Sunday, saying, “The passage in one set of the English paper of CBSE Class-10 first-term examination held on December 11 has received mixed reactions from a few parents and students stating that ‘it seems to support regressive notions on family and allegedly promotes gender stereotyping’.”
“The matter will be referred to subject experts for considered views as per the preset procedures of the board. As regards the correct answer option and the answer key released by the board, it is clarified that if the experts opine that the passage elicits multiple interpretations, appropriate action will be taken to protect the interest of the students,” the board had said.
This is the second time in a span of 15 days that the CBSE board exam question paper has drawn controversy. On December 2, CBSE asked students appearing in Sociology test in the Term 1 Board Exams for Class 12, to answer which party ruled in Gujarat when the 2002 riots happened.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also raised the issue, calling the passage “drivel”. “Unbelievable! Are we really teaching children this drivel? Clearly the BJP Government endorses these retrograde views on women, why else would they feature in the CBSE curriculum?” Priyanka said on Twitter.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi too termed the paper “downright disgusting”. Taking to Twitter, he said: “Most #CBSE papers so far were too difficult and the comprehension passage in the English paper was downright disgusting. Typical RSS-BJP ploys to crush the morale and future of the youth. Kids, do your best. Hard work pays. Bigotry doesn’t.”
Another Congress MP, Jothimani, wrote to CBSE chairperson Manoj Ahuja expressing anger and shock about the particular text. She said that the question paper contained “misogynistic, anti-women, anti-child rights ideas” in her letter.
In a letter to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi sought his unconditional apology on the CBSE controversial passage and demanded swift action against all those responsible for such regressive portrayal of women in school books of the Central Government education board system.
