CBSE exam paper under fire for alleged gender stereotyping

Board refers matter to subject experts

NEW DELHI: A comprehension passage in the CBSE class 10 English question paper has sparked a controversy for allegedly promoting “gender stereotyping” and supporting “regressive notions” prompting the board to refer the matter to subject experts on Sunday.

In the class 10 exam conducted on Saturday, the 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.

Various excerpts from the passage have gone viral on social media with users calling out the board for supporting “misogynistic” and “regressive opinions” and hashtag “CBSE insults women” trending on the microblogging site Twitter.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also took to Twitter objecting to the question paper.

“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?” she said.

Lakshmi Ramachandran, spokesperson of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, said, “This outrageously nonsensical reading passage appeared in the 10th CBSE board exam paper today. What are we teaching our children? CBSE has to give an explanation and tender an apology for inflicting our children with this”.

“Class 10 CBSE English paper today says children and servants must be taught their place and women gaining some independence destroyed parents authority over children. Entire passage is so stupid. Who are these idiots setting question paper in CBSE,” another Twitter user said.