“Fish curry is made by father himself.” This statement in the Class V Social Science textbook for the Kerala board syllabus, brought out in June, was just one of the changes made to break down gender norms as part of curriculum reforms initiated by the present Left Democratic Front government.
Similar references to gender parity in the textbooks for Classes I, III, V, VII, and IX were celebrated across India as leading the change in the way children are taught in school.
The first chapter of the Class V textbook has a group of friends travelling to their classmate Peeli’s village where they are served rice, tapioca, and fish caught by her father. The father’s presence in the kitchen was a break from tradition in Kerala’s predominantly patriarchal society — a factor that caused an uproar at the subcommittee meet of the Kerala curriculum steering committee in Thiruvananthapuram in December 2023.
One participant at the meeting asked: “If the father is doing everything, what is left for the mother to do?” “A revolution is set to begin in the kitchens in Kerala,” was another sarcastic jibe.
The sentence in question, though, remained unchanged in the final draft of the textbook and is now being studied in schools across the State. “That was seen as a victory, but it is tough to describe what we went through during that time,” recalls Anjana V.R. Chandran, academic coordinator of the Class V Social Science textbook development team.
Father makes ‘unniyappam’
An image shared by V. Sivankutty, the State’s Minister for General Education, on social media on school reopening day, June 3, had created a buzz. The illustration, from a Class III Malayalam-medium textbook, shows a man sitting on the floor, grating coconut, while his wife does the cooking.
Positioning the kitchen as a main workspace in the house and depicting the man engaged in a domestic chore was all about sending a message to children. At Government Lower Primary School, Thycaud, Thiruvananthapuram city, Class III students are studying English. Under discussion is a character named Sasha whose father is picturised in the textbook as not only ‘helping’ the woman of the family in the kitchen, but also preparing a not-so-easy-to-make sweet called unniyappam, for Sasha to take to school.
A page from the Class III English textbook
As students are quizzed by the teacher about what chores their fathers do around the house, Anjaneyan R.A. shares that his father makes sambar, does the dishes, hangs clothes out to dry, and cleans the house.
Other students in the classroom try to make each other heard about fathers who knead the dough for chapattis, steam appam, dress infant siblings, and bathe the dog. Anuroop D., father of Aadya, a classmate of Anjaneyan, says girls and boys are increasingly taught together, without discrimination, and this is reflected in their thinking too. “My daughter expects me to pull my weight in the house, and does not shy away from pointing it out. Things have changed from the time when it was believed a woman belonged in the kitchen.” Anuroop feels the school environment has played a role in this, and the new curriculum will reinforce this.
The basis for the new thought in the textbooks is that gender sensitisation will put boys and girls in touch with the other’s thoughts and feelings, reducing the possibility of toxic relationships and gender violence. Anuroop also stresses the need for teachers who can spur students to reimagine gender roles. The new textbooks attempt to do just that: to demolish entrenched gender stereotypes and foster an inclusive outlook even among very young children.
An inclusive outlook
In the chapter ‘Peeli’s Village’ over which the brouhaha had erupted, one of Peeli’s friends is wheelchair-bound. Another lives in a slum with a single mother, a mill worker. A third is the daughter of a migrant worker couple from Assam, and one has entrepreneur parents.
Beena S. Nair, who teachers Social Science to Class V students at Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Malayinkeezhu, on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram city, says the response of the students to the lesson and activities such as role play taken up in class has been very positive. Beena attributes this to the fact that they can relate to the characters portrayed in it. Her school has two secondary students who hail from Manipur and Assam. Now that schools in the State are inclusive with differently abled students mainstreamed, “Attitudes are changing. The foremost reaction to the differently abled is not sympathy. Instead, students suggest to teachers how better they can provide academic support to them,” says Beena.
Inclusivity is also reflected in how the migrant workers’ daughter, who feels people keep a distance from her family, gets a warm welcome in the village while her friend, who has been told by his mother to skip food at Peeli’s house, goes on to relish it, points out Chandran.
A message through drawings
Niketan M., a Class XII Science student at Government Higher Secondary School, Medical College campus, Kozhikode, who drew the illustrations for ‘Peeli’s Village’ is happy that he got an opportunity to become a part of a process intended to bring about a transformation. “Gender sensitivity and inclusivity are yet to be fully realised. There are still boys who think only they can do certain things. My illustrations will send a message that will help students steer clear of such notions as they grow up,” he says.
“Seeing a picture of a man cooking or washing clothes will have a greater impact on a student’s mind than being just spoken about in class,” believes Niketan, whose own perspectives on gender equality and diversity evolved through his passion for cinema, be it those that address gender equality directly such as The Great Indian Kitchen or the more recent Laapata Ladies.
This inclusive approach is evident in the chapter ‘Strive Forward’ in the new Class IX work-integrated education activity book that features the country’s first transman pilot Adam Harry; national hand-wrestling champion Amal Iqbal who has cerebral palsy; and entrepreneur, cancer survivor, and single mother Shalin.
“It is good to see Adam Harry written about in the textbook as one does not read about transmen or intersex people as much as about transwomen,” says transgender poet and activist Vijayaraja Mallika, a member of the curriculum steering committee.
Until now, children were not taught about gender diversity in schools, and words like transperson and intersex person have not been regularly spoken about at home either. “When there are marks attached to it, it gets more importance and value,” she says.
At a time when the education system is highly competitive, it is the State’s responsibility to not only ensure that students attain competency but also study in an inclusive system where they can express their identity fully. The new textbooks are the first step in that direction, Mallika says.
Jayaprakash R.K., director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), which is spearheading the curriculum revision, says that since the last revision of textbooks in 2013, attitudes to gender have evolved into an acceptance of various gender identities. Court verdicts have reflected this. “In a first, the State’s curriculum steering committee has a transgender representative in poet Vijayaraja Mallika.”
The Class IX Social Science volume 2 textbook that is under print, he says, has an entire chapter on gender justice as defined in the Constitution, related court judgments, gender perceptions, gender roles, and discrimination. This portion can be the springboard for teachers to delve further into gender issues in the classroom, says Jayaprakash.
Praveena Kodoth, Professor at the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, observes that a gender binary is very deeply rooted in textbooks. “In pre-pubescent children, there is very little that differentiates girls and boys in terms of bodily features. They do the same things. So, there is no need to differentiate between genders at that age. You can come up with ways of learning where, irrespective of caste, class, or gender identity, you are capable of similar things. There are differences also as people have different innate abilities,” she says.
Auditing textbooks for gender bias
Work on the gender aspect began with an audit of the textbooks in use for the past decade, says Jayaprakash. As many as 22 textbooks across 13 subjects of Classes I to X were audited at random. Textbook development teams were found to have little or no women representation. The content adhered to the gender binary of male and female. In language subjects, stories or poems by women were few and far between. A number of instances of gender bias were found in the language used; illustrations reinforced society’s gender rules.
The gender audit went beyond textbooks by conducting school visits and looking at oft-overlooked aspects such as school infrastructure, environment, classroom practices, and parent-teacher association (PTA) through the gender lens to detect biases or discrimination, says Chandran a convener of the gender focus group and author of the chapter on gender in the Class IX Social Science textbook.
As a host of problems prevalent in schools came to the fore, it became apparent that the vision of the previous Kerala Curriculum Framework (KCF), from 2007, for a gender-sensitive approach in content and practice of curriculum had not been achieved.
Mridul Eapen, former State Planning Board member and chairperson of the gender and education focus group, says a start has been made with the new textbooks, but the school system is a much larger entity: there is infrastructure, school environment, classroom and pedagogical practices, learning material, PTAs and school management committees, interface with home and community, and importantly, teacher education. These too have to be addressed if the school system has to be overhauled to be gender-sensitive.
Chandran says public discussions ahead of the preparation of the curriculum framework included classroom and school-level discussions on a host of topics, including gender, in institutions across the State. The gender focus group also studied national and international education policy documents models in gender and education practices. “A careful attempt was made to look at gender beyond the binary, be inclusive of the gender spectrum, and address gender concerns within an intersectional context,” says Chandran.
Jayaprakash says an orientation was given to textbook writers on preventing gender bias in language, content, and illustrations. “There has been a change from the male-dominated textbook development teams that used to be there earlier. Women comprise more than 70% of teachers in the State. Even if a proportionate representation is not seen in the textbook teams, we estimate nearly half of them are women.”
Sometimes a difficult road
The curriculum revision process that began in 2022 was rocked by controversies over gender. First, a row erupted over purported plans to seat boys and girls together on the same benches in classrooms. Though the SCERT claimed otherwise, coming close on the heels of protests over gender-neutral school uniforms, it sparked a firestorm of criticism from certain Muslim organisations.
The Indian Union Muslim League, part of the Opposition United Democratic Front, also trained its guns on the government over alleged attempts to impose liberalism, deny religion, and teaching subjects related to sexual gratification. “New gender inequality is being created in the name of gender neutrality,” M.K. Muneer, IUML leader, had said at an event in Kozhikode.
The government even had to warn of legal action if misconceptions continued to be spread about the curriculum revision process.
As work begins on textbooks for Classes II, IV, VI, VIII, and X to be published in the next academic year, Jayaprakash is optimistic that the support received for efforts towards gender-sensitive education will help textbook planners and writers pay even more attention to detail the second time round.
Published - July 19, 2024 12:36 am IST
