Kerala plans to drop gender-specific terms from school curriculum

Representational Image. Photo: Shutterstock/ Granate Art

Thiruvananthapuram: The curriculum revision committee in Kerala has recommended gender-neutrality in all activities related to schools. A draft framework for revising the curriculum presented before the core committee also wants regular gender auditing to be conducted in all academic matters.

Based on the recommendation, all gender-specific terms and lessons would be removed from the school syllabus.

Changes in Science syllabus

Another suggestion is to prepare the science syllabus in such a manner that it promotes an inquisitive as well as questioning mindset mong students. A related recommendation is to include scientific terms which are used globally in Malayalam medium textbooks also, instead of using only their Malayalam equivalents, and give an explanation in the local language.

Job-oriented education

According to the draft, employment-oriented education has to start from Class 9. Awareness programmes for parents also have to be part of the curriculum, it adds.

CPM vets draft

The draft was prepared by the State Council of Educational Research Training (SCERT). It was subsequently vetted by the ruling party CPM for political correctness, before being presented before the core committee on Friday.

Even though the core committee can express its opinions on the draft till August 10, no major changes are expected.  

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