New Delhi: Facing strong backlash the CBSE has decided to remove a controversial passage from their Class 10 English paper and to award full marks for it to students the passage sparked controversy for allegedly promoting "gender stereotyping" and supporting "regressive notions" urging the board to refer the matter to subject experts on Sunday, reported PTI.
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.
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"A passage in one set of English language and literature paper of 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 its recommendation, it has been decided to drop the passage and the accompanying questions," CBSE Examination Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj said according to PTI.
"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 passages question received strong backlash from parents and students alike from Saturday itself, various excerpts from the passage have gone viral on social media with users calling out the board for supporting "misogynistic" and "regressive opinions" and the 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, the 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.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi raised the issue in Parliament on Monday and said that the board should withdraw the question and conduct a thorough review to make sure that such mistakes are not made again.
Earlier, the CBSE class 12 sociology paper held earlier this month asked students to name the party under which the anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 took place, a question the board later said was inappropriate and against its guidelines.
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