New Delhi, 20th December 2022: According to a parliamentary committee, the NCERT would seek to provide a balanced perspective of all genders in the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) and its textbooks. The panel had previously advised the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to conduct a thorough analysis from the perspective of gender bias and stereotypes to address the underrepresentation of women and girls in school textbooks or the fact that they are only portrayed in traditional roles. Additionally, it stated that attempts should be made to include all genders in content description and visual depiction.

On Monday (December 19), the government’s response to the recommendations and observations was presented to Parliament.

The report read, “The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports has been informed that the NCERT has taken note of all the concerns raised by the committee and will adequately contribute to bringing a balanced perspective of all genders in the NCF, syllabus, and all textbooks that will be developed as a follow-up to NCFs. The NCERT has already started the process of developing NCFs.”

The group had previously suggested that textbooks should feature women in new and developing professions more prominently as role models, with an emphasis on their accomplishments and methods for accomplishing the same. All people, especially females, will benefit from this by developing a sense of self-worth and confidence.

The panel had previously stated, “Other topics like environment sensitivity, human values, issues of children with special needs, etc can also be looked up for suitable inclusion in the School textbooks while assessing the textbooks.”