Aarushi Chakraborty of Class IX, South City International School, is a fierce gender activist who discusses equal rights with her schoolmates
Sinjini Sengupta of Class IX, Garden High School, prefers her winter uniform that does not differentiate between girls and boys
Calcutta: Students and educators in and around the city have started advocating gender-neutral activities and lessons. Schools are ensuring their communication and attire are gender-neutral to sensitise students.
This trend precedes the effort of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to remove traces of inequality from its social science textbooks. A chapter in the new Class IX textbook, Understanding Society: India and Beyond, draws on early Vedic texts to teach children about samatva (equality), women's property rights and the right to education. According to the old book, both women and shudras (those belonging to the lower castes) were not allowed to study.
"It is important to teach children equality, right from their early school days. Only then will they respect the opposite gender," said Nupur Ghosh, vice-principal of Mahadevi Birla World Academy. "In the assembly, I tell all the students to be neat. I don't tell boys to cut their hair."
The uniform here is gender-neutral right from middle school (shirt and trousers) and both boys and girls are encouraged to cook and learn martial arts for self-defence, she added. Many schools are opting for gender-neutral uniforms to start their equality journey. While boys are encouraged to cook and dance, girls now have their cricket and football teams. "During our investiture ceremony, I ensured both the head boy and head girl had a flag to carry. One held the school flag and the other the Investiture Day special flag. The student council members were also made to take part in a leadership and gender equality workshop," said Madhumita Seal, principal of Birla Bharati.
Madhumita Sengupta, principal of B.D.M. International, said her students take an equality pledge. "The uniform is gender-neutral, and so are all activities in school. Everybody performs and plays with equal enthusiasm. We have a football team for girls," she said.
Schools are making small and big changes to teach the lesson of equality and neutrality. M.C. Kejriwal Vidyapeeth opened its doors to girls in 2024. "We realised that going co-educational is the way forward. But before our big move, we conducted a lot of sensitising sessions for our boys, teachers and staff members," said Biswajit Majumdar, the school's principal.
Even before studying equality in social science classes, students have been discussing it. "I am a strong believer in equality and have had talks with friends in our debate club," said Rajoshik Ghosh of Class IX, Birla High School, Mukundapur.
"When people talk about gender rights, I also remind them of the rights of the third gender," chipped in Aarushi.
"My friends and I once discussed why there were separate provisions for women in the Indian Constitution," added Sinjini. Debates, speeches and switching stereotypical gender roles are making the students more aware. History and social science lessons are just a welcome add-on.
"It's good that textbooks are taking inspiration from ancient texts," said indologist Sucheta Bandyopadhyay. "Compiled around the second century BCE, the Manusmriti institutionalised robust economic safeguards. Husbands were mandated to delegate domestic financial management to their wives and unmarried daughters could inherit paternal estates. Women maintained exclusive ownership over stridhan (personal wealth from both natal and marital relations). A daughter, whose father had no sons, also enjoyed primary inheritance rights," she added.