Sonia Gandhi asks CBSE to withdraw 'anti-women' question in Class X paper; demands apology

UPDATE:

CBSE withdraws controversial question from Class X paper. All students to be awarded full marks for the reading passage.

Pulling up the Centre and CBSE over its 'anti-women' question in the Class 10 CBSE Board Elight paper, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Monday, demanded the Centre to withdraw the question, issue an apology and conduct a review. Speaking at the Lok Sabha's Zero-hour, Gandhi termed the passage misogynistic and the following question nonsensical. Congress, DMK, IUML, NCP and National Conference MPs later walked out in protest.

CBSE row: Sonia Gandhi demands apology from Centre

"The passage contains atrocious statements like 'Women gaining independence is the main reason for a wide variety of social problems. Wives stopped obeying their husbands and that is the reason children and servants are indisciplined. The entire passage is riddled with such condemnable ideas and the question that follows are equally nonsensical," she said.

She added, "I add my voice to students, parents, teachers, educationalists and raise strong objections to misogynistic materials finding its way into the CBSE exams. It reflects extremely poorly on the education system and violates all norms of a progressive and empowered society. I urge the Ministry of Education, CBSE to immediately withdraw the question, issue an apology and conduct a thorough review to ensure it is never repeated again".

Congress' Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi too slammed the BJP-RSS for the 'anti-women' question, tweeting, "Typical RSS-BJP ploys to crush the morale and future of the youth. Kids, do your best. Hard work pays. Bigotry doesn’t." Similarly, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi lashed out at CBSE tweeting, "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?".

CBSE question irks students, parents

The exam held on Saturday had a passage that lamented the loss of parental authority in the twentieth century with the 'emancipation of women'. The passage claimed that parental authority in the 19th century depended on the husband being the master of the house and the wife giving him 'formal obedience'. It read, "It was her best plan, to fall back on the authority saying, 'Your father has forbidden it'. Children and servants were in this way taught to know their place".

Comparing the docile 19th century woman to the 20th century, it added, "In 20th century became fewer and feminist revolt was the result. Father's word had no longer the authority of holy writ and married women now retained their identity and some pursued separate careers". The passage concluded that the 'emancipation of the wife destroyed the parent's authority over children. In bringing the man down from his pedestal the wife and mother deprived herself, in fact, of the means of discipline'.

Stoking the row further, CBSE offered four options for the title - 'Who is responsible for indiscipline among children?', 'Collapse of discipline at home', 'place of children and servants at home', 'child psychology'. The question has led to outrage among students and parents alike.  The CBSE is currently scrutinising the matter and experts will decide on the correct answer as per interpretations.