New Delhi [India]: Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Monday urged the Ministry of Education and Central Bureau of Education (CBSE) to immediately withdraw a “shockingly regressive passage” in a recent Class 10 English exam question paper and issue an apology. Sonia Gandhi raised in Lok Sabha the issue of inclusion of the “regressive passage” in CBSE’s question paper for the Grade 10 exam, demanded a withdrawal of the passage and an apology. Speaking in Lok Sabha during the ongoing winter session, Gandhi said, “I urge the Ministry of Education and CBSE to immediately withdraw this question, issue an apology and conduct a thorough review into this lapse to ensure this is never repeated again.” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today called the English paper of the CBSE class 10 board exam “downright disgusting” and said that it was a “typical RSS-BJP ploy” to crush the morale and future of youth. The Congress leader also advised the students that only hard work pays and “bigotry doesn’t”. Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader said, “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.” Earlier, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also slammed the Centre for endorsing “retrograde views on women” and said, “Unbelievable! Are we really teaching children this drivel? Clearly, the BJP Government endorses these retrograde views on women. Why else would they feature in the CBSE curriculum?” The passage in CBSE’s English exam the Congress leader was referring to was: “In twentieth-century children became fewer and feminist revolt was the result…Father’s word had no longer the authority of holy writ…” “Married women now retained their identity and some pursued separate careers,” it further read and concluded with “emancipation of the wife destroyed the parent’s authority over children.” “In bringing the man down from his pedestal the wife and mother deprived herself, in fact, of the means of discipline,” it added. The four titles offered to children in one of the questions for the passage fuelled the row further. The options included: Who is responsible for indiscipline among children?..Collapse of discipline at home, place of children and servants at home, child psychology.
