CBSE Drops 'Sexist' Passage form 10th English Exam, Students to get Full Marks

After the massive uproar, CBSE has decided to drop the comprehension passage which was being regarded as ‘anti-female’ and ‘sexist’. The board has decided to award full marks to all students for the passage.

In an official statement, the board said that the passage was “not in accordance with guidelines of the board with regard to the setting of question papers” and hence it has decided to drop the passage from the exam. Further, “to ensure uniformity and parity, full marks will be awarded to students for passage no 1 for all sets of question papers.”

The controversial passage stated, “women gaining independence is the main reason for a wide variety of social and family problems“. It also read, “Emancipation of the wife destroyed the parent’s authority over the children. The mother did not exemplify the obedience upon which she tried to insist,” read the passage. It added, “In bringing the man down from his pedestal the wife and mother deprived herself, in fact, of the means of discipline.”

Apart from parents and teachers, many political leaders joined in to bash CBSE on their exams. Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi raised the matter in Lok Sabha. She called it a ‘shockingly regressive passage’ and demanded the withdrawal of the passage and an apology from the board.

“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,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter.

Priyanka Gandhi too had joined the protest and had stated, “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?”

Earlier, CBSE class 12 sociology exam, CBSE had issued an apology for asking a question on Gujarat violence. The question stated, “The unprecedented scale and spread of anti-muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 took place under which government?”

This is the first time board is holding term-wise exams. The current exams are term 1 board exams. This year, there will be two boards for class 10 and 12 students. The term 1 exams are MCQ-only exams, however, they are most crucial as the board has said that in case the Covid-19 situation worsens, the board will not hold term 2 exams and term 1 exams will be considered for final results along with internal assessment.

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