File picture of Plus Two students attending a class in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, July 15: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to introduce “gender awareness” programmes as part of its curriculum.

“We need to realise that if we have to move forward, we must teach our younger generation to learn to respect the opposite gender,” said CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi on the sidelines of a programme in New Delhi earlier this month.

Sources said the decision was taken in the wake of the gang-rape of a 23-year-old medical intern in Delhi and rising cases of atrocities against women. The special programme has been designed to impart values and moral education to both boys and girls.

“Certain incidents have led us to realise that there is an urgent need for launching a gender awareness programme for school students,” Joshi said.

The sensitisation programme will be conducted through various kinds of activities, such as group discussions, workshops and interactive sessions with teachers. The activities will then be linked with the curriculum and the board will prepare modules to train teachers on how to conduct the programme.

The board has made a list of topics from the existing syllabi. “Each class will have a unique gender awareness module. The class-wise module will be designed with topics selected from the regular subjects,” said another CBSE official.

In March, the Union human resources development ministry advised state governments to promote gender awareness by re-examining textbooks and curriculum and introducing gender awareness module for teachers during annual in-service training.

The latest syllabus on health and physical education for classes I to X developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training based on the National Curriculum Framework, 2005, covers topics related to self-defence under themes such as human body, security, safety and self-defence for upper primary classes.

School authorities in the twin cities have hailed the initiative and hoped that it would go a long way in promoting gender equality, besides instilling respect and understanding for each other from a young age.

“We introduced the gender sensitisation programme a year ago. So far, the response of the new curriculum has been satisfactory in the school,” said principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Cuttack, M.K. Panigrahy.

He also said the students were being taught how to talk, behave and act with the opposite sex.

Many CBSE schools in the city are also conducting such awareness programmes round the year.

“We have been running an adolescence education programme for the last five years, which has helped us in addressing several gender-related issues. We have also appointed a counsellor who encourages students to open up on sensitive issues and personal problems. The success rate is high,” said Debendra Pati, a teacher of DAV Public School, Chandrasekharpur.

Apart from this, the CBSE is also planning to start an open test-based assessment from the current academic session. The students will be given case studies three to four months in advance and will also be provided sample questions to prepare. “During the assessment, a different set of questions will be provided from the case studies which were already given to the students,” said CBSE officials.

Open test-based assessment will be introduced for students in classes IX and XI.

In Class IX, it will be held for all major subjects, while in Class XI, only three subjects—economics, biology and geography — will be brought under the assessment.