School Textbooks Revised To Erase Gender Stereotypes, says Lokesh

School textbooks in Andhra Pradesh have been revised to remove gender stereotypes and instil respect for women from an early age, according to the state HRD Minister, Nara Lokesh. 

The minister made the comments on Thursday during a fireside chat organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) in Delhi and outlined the state's ongoing reforms in school and higher education, with a strong focus on value-based education, gender sensitivity, technology-enabled learning, curriculum reform and industry-linked



skilling.

He said Andhra Pradesh is examining which courses, majors, and minors are offered, whether they remain relevant, and how closely curricula align with market requirements. 

"Textbooks for Classes 1 and 2 earlier depicted household chores as being performed entirely by women. The state has changed this approach so that 50 per cent of the household chores shown are performed by men and 50 per cent by women, aiming to avoid gender stereotyping from the first grade itself," he said.