CBSE 'regrets' gender stereotypes in English question; experts to review process

NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education said in a social media post that it "regrets" including an allegedly misogynistic question in the CBSE Class 10 term-1 English exam 2021 and will have an expert committee examine the paper setting processes.

Following uproar online and in Parliament, with opposition leaders from Congress, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi protesting, the CBSE had dropped the comprehension passage question from the Class 10 English exam. The board has also decided to compensate for the mistake by providing full marks for the concerned question to students. following an outrage.

Also read | CBSE Class 10 English Exam Analysis 2021: Incomplete questions, grammatical errors

“CBSE is committed to equity and excellence in education and promotes inclusiveness and gender sensitivity. CBSE has dropped a passage and accompanying questions that were asked in the English term 1 paper for Class 10, as it was not in adherence with guidelines issued by the CBSE. for external paper setters,” says the Tweet on CBSE’s official Twitter account.

pic.twitter.com/pYYfJGrxpl

— CBSE HQ (@cbseindia29) December 13, 2021

The board has also said that it is setting up an expert committee to thoroughly review and strengthen the question paper setting processes, to avoid such occurrences in the future.

Also read | CBSE Class 10 Hindi 2021 Exam Analysis: Difficult questions, tough language used

The passage and questions were trending on social media with people criticising CBSE for supporting misogynistic and regressive opinions. The text in the question contained sentences such as “emancipation of women destroyed the parents' 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.

Recently, the CBSE Class 12 sociology paper also created controversy as the students were asked to name the political party under which the “2002 Gujarat violence” (anti-Muslim violence) took place. The board had later said that the question was “inappropriate” and a breach of its guidelines.