CBSE to introduce gender studies course from 2013-14

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to introduce a new subject that will create awareness about gender sensitivity and gender issues. To be introduced in the 2013-14 academic session for Std XI, the subject will be combined with human rights studies as well. As a pilot project, only 50 schools in the country will be eligible to offer this elective course.

CBSE's Parashar writes that this course is intended to make students aware of the ways in which gender is taken for granted. She adds that it is also about how "gender is learnt, the implications of gender for our lives, and prospects for change insofar as men and women are able to combine and/or reject elements of traditional masculinity and femininity".