Amid a lot of outrage, the CBSE announced removal of the controversial ‘disobedient wives’ passage from class x exam paper. The excerpts of the passage shed the light on the entire issue. The passage, which appeared in the 10th standard English paper had sentences such as, “it was only by accepting her husband’s way that a mother could gain obedience over the younger ones”, and “emancipation of the wife destroyed the parent’s authority over the children”, as quoted by NDTV.

On Monday, a seething Sonia Gandhi spoke about the issue in parliament as well, adding more fuel to the fire.

Contents hide
1. Background
2. The Facts of the Matter
3. “Emancipation of Wife Destroyed…”
4. Husband Used to be “Master of the House”: CBSE’s Offensive Text
5. Sonia Gandhi Issues Seething Statement in Parliament

Background

Like most countries, the education system of India is responsible for nurturing young minds and inculcating notions and ideas that a student may carry for the rest of their lives. At such a growing age, when these students are introduced to texts that may tarnish or overpower a particular idea with bias, it pours water over the strides made in that particular sector.

Recently, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) received a lot of flak due to some passages in its question papers.

The Facts of the Matter

The CBSE on Monday dropped a passage from an exam paper that was given to students of Class 10 across the world. The passage was the cause of massive outrage due to the portrayal of Indian women in its text. The passage went into detail about teenagers in the context of discipline. Like most unseen passages, the passage was shared to test the comprehension ability of the students.

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“Emancipation of Wife Destroyed…”

The text, as quoted by multiple news reports, read, “One paragraph from the passage stated: “What people were slow to observe was that the emancipation of the wife destroyed the parent’s authority over children. The mother did not exemplify the obedience upon which she still tried to insist.”

“There was more room now for disagreement between the parents, enabling the child to appeal from one to another, eventually ignoring both. In bringing the man down from his pedestal the wife and the mother deprived herself, in fact of the means of discipline,” it further added.

Husband Used to be “Master of the House”: CBSE’s Offensive Text

The passage went on to state that due to “lack of parental authority”, teenagers “live in a world of their own”. It also went on to add that centuries ago. The passage also went on to add that years ago, wife used to give “formal obedience” to the husband who used to be the “master of the house”.

“The mother did not exemplify the obedience upon which she still tried to insist…In bringing the man down from his pedestal the wife and the mother deprived herself, in fact of the means of discipline,” the problematic passage read.

Sonia Gandhi Issues Seething Statement in Parliament

Condemning the passage, president of the opposition party Sonia Gandhi, raised the issue in the Parliament today. She labelled the passage as “blatantly misogynist”. She further condemned the PM Modi government and sought apology from the PM Modi office.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi also condemned the passage, and fired a tweet which read, “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.”

“Full Marks to Students..”: CBSE After Dropping Passage

Later on Monday, CBSE issued a statement which read, “As the passage in one set of question paper  in class X English Exam is not  in accordance with  guidelines of the board  with regard to setting of question papers, it has been decided to drop the question  and award full marks to the students for this passage.”