CBSE English question row: Board apologizes, forms question paper setting committee

In a major development, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to form a committee to strictly review and strengthen the Board exam question paper setting procedure. This comes after a comprehensive passage question in the CBSE Term 1 English paper triggered controversy for allegedly promoting "gender stereotyping." The Board announced that the passage students would receive "full marks for the passage" that appeared in Class 10 English Question Paper Series JSK/1 as it was not in adherence with the guidelines issued by the Board and expressed regret over the incident.

In addition to that, the Board also announced the withdrawal of the particular passage and accompanying questions from the exam paper. "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 board for external paper setters. "CBSE regrets the unfortunate incident and is setting up an expert committee to thoroughly review and strengthen the question paper setting processes to avoid such occurrences in the future," the board said in an official statement.

CBSE Term 1 Exam: CBSE forms a Paper Setting Committee

After discussing the matter with the experts, the board decided to withdraw the controversial passage and form a special committee. After the examination, excerpts from the controversial passage started circulating on the internet, resulting in massive outrage on social media platforms. The passage contained sentences such as, "the 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. The question further contained four options for the title: "Who is responsible for indiscipline among children?" "collapse of discipline at home," "place of children and servants at home," and "child psychology."

Meanwhile, many political leaders also expressed their outrage over the alleged "anti-women" question. The issue in Lok Sabha: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday condemned the "blatantly misogynist" and "nonsensical" questions, saying they reflected "extremely poorly" on the standards of education and testing. She also demanded an apology from the government and a review into this "gravest lapse".

With Inputs from PTI

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