Reflection of falling standards of education: Sonia Gandhi on 'sexist para' in CBSE paper

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday raised the issue of questions in the Class 10 CBSE boards exam in the Lok Sabha. Reading from a passage, Gandhi said the material was "regressive" and "misogynistic", and demanded an apology from the Centre.

The question, which appeared in the reading and comprehension section of the Class 10 exam on December 11, contained what Gandhi claimed were “atrocious statements”.

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She read out two such statements. ‘Women gaining independence is the reason behind a wide variety of social and family problems,’ Gandhi read from the question. ‘Wives stop obeying their husbands and that is the main reason children and servants are indisciplined,’ was another statement she read from the question paper.

“The entire passage is riddled with such condemnable ideas, and the questions that follow are equally nonsensical. I add my voice to the concerns of students, parents, teachers and educationists and I raise strong objections to such blatant misogynist material finding its way into an important examination conducted by the CBSE,” said Gandhi.

Gandhi further said that the question reflected poorly on the falling standards of education and went against all norms of a progessive and empowered society.

Gandhi demanded that the Ministry of Education and the CBSE immediately withdraw the question and issue an apology, and conduct a “thorough review into this egregious lapse”.

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Gandhi demanded that the ministry of education and the CBSE immediately withdraw the question and issue an apology, and conduct a “thorough review into this egregious lapse”. Gandhi also said that the ministry of education must carry out a review of gender sensitivity standards of the curriculum and testing.