Fighter jets as gifts, Razia Sultan’s tale: Textbooks smash gender biases in Punjab

Fighter jets as gifts, Razia Sultan's tale: Textbooks smash gender biases in Punjab Education Department's collaboration with NGO Breakthrough and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab.

Key points

• Nur Jahan wasn't just Jahangir's "wife", and Razia Sultana was not just Sultan Shams ud-Din Iltutmish's "daughter", the chapters say.
• Although some topics are additionally covered in Classes 9 to 12, the books that saw the most changes belong to Classes 6 to 8.
• A story in the Class 7 English textbook discussions concerning Sidhak, a girl who chooses a fighter jet as a gift instead of a kitchen set.
• Sunita Prabhakar of the Punjab Education Department explains why lessons like this are significant, especially in administration schools.
• A chapter from the Class 8 English book helps students understand the opportunities that some married women lose since of rigid social norms.

Meanwhile, a story in the Class 7 English textbook discussions concerning Sidhak, a girl who chooses a fighter jet as a gift instead of a kitchen set. (Express photo).

What Sidhak wants is a kitchen set. All her friends have one, and when her "Daarji", who's cooking in the kitchen, ignores her, she gets petulant. "Daarji just doesn't care, " she notes. Instead, her grandfather asks her to watch the Republic Day parade.

Reluctantly, Sidhak watches it and sees a woman fighter pilot salute her national flag. Then she forgets all her annoyance. "How major are these? Can I additionally fly them?" she asks, just as her grandfather intended. Sidhak forgets all regarding the kitchen set and instead gets a miniature fighter jet as a "gift".

Meanwhile, the story, titled 'A Gift for Sidhak', is part of the Class 7 curriculum in Punjab administration schools and the state government's campaign to buck gender stereotypes and redefine gender roles. Five years after the Punjab Education Department collaborated with the NGO Breakthrough and The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab South Asia (J-PAL) in 2021 to integrate 'Gender Sensitisation' into the regular curriculum, the change is visible on the pages.

These efforts are particularly visible in the English and social studies curriculum – from stories such as 'A Gift for Sidhak' to viewing significant historical figures such as Razia Sultana and Nur Jahan through a different lens.

Meanwhile, the efforts are not just for students but additionally for teachers, Sunita Prabhakar, component head for the Gender Sensitisation curriculum of the Punjab Education Department, tells The Indian Express.

"The teaching material or books alone can't bring the change. We have trained teachers on how to convey such lessons in the classrooms. The curriculum now additionally includes stories on how families should backing women's career ambitions and men should additionally participate in household chores, " she states.

In the Class 6 English textbook, a chapter called 'A Forgotten Wish' explains how married women too can take care of their parents, and that they are not a "burden or a stranger". Although the latter believes that married women belong in their husbands' homes, in it, Khwahish, a married woman, is keen to care for her "bebe" (mother). That changes when bebe falls ill, and her son cannot travel back from abroad.

It's Khwahish who takes over – she's the one who gets her mother's eye surgery done, and she's the one who cares for her.

In practice, a chapter from the Class 8 English book helps students understand the opportunities that some married women lose since of rigid social norms. The chapter, called 'Smashing the Glass Ceiling', tells the story of Paramjeet, the daughter of a house support, and Geet, at whose house Paramjeet's mother worked. While the less-educated Paramjeet has her own computer business and is now a confident woman, by the time they meet again after 25 years, their lives have taken diametrically opposite courses: Geet, a well-qualified woman with a master's degree, is a homemaker whose family doesn't approve of her working.

Meanwhile, the story, which ends with Geet seeking work from Paramjeet, sets the tone right at the outset.

"Individuals generally think women can't have their own businesses, but excellence and talent are not based on gender. Even if a girl is highly educated, she is only projected to take care of family, " the chapter states. "They have to work harder to prove their worth."

"Since more of the administration school children come from underprivileged backgrounds, their career choices are additionally narrow and biased. Girls think that at best, they can be teachers or nurses. We are trying to change this, " notes Prabhakar.

Among the most significant changes in the textbooks is how students are being taught to view history – and the women in it. In particular, the books have highlighted the roles of Razia Sultan, the Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate from 1236 until her deposition in 1240, and Nur Jahan, the chief consort of Mughal emperor Jahangir and widely considered the real power behind the Mughal throne.

"What was the cause of Razia Sultana's murder?" an activity-based question at the end of a chapter on Razia – Delhi's first and only female Muslim ruler – asks. "If Razia existed today, what difficulties would she have faced on her path to becoming the first female ruler of Delhi? What fixed ideas regarding women did she break during those times?"

Meanwhile, the chapter answers the question too: "She was killed since men did not want to obey and follow a woman leader. The Army Generals did not want to spend their life under a woman. Razia Sultana was the first female Muslim ruler. She trained in military warfare since childhood, wore clothes that didn't show her gender and discarded the veil. It shocked the conservative society. Individuals believe that men are natural leaders and women have to work much harder to secure into governance and politics. Historically, women have faced plenty of such challenges."

Likewise, the chapter on Nur Jahan explains how she was "the most inspiring woman in the Mughal era who defied traditional norms by openly ruling alongside her husband".

"She took keen interest in the administration of his kingdom. Jahangir took her advice on all problems. In act after act – hunting, issuing orders and coins, designing buildings – she ensured her name was carved in public memory and in history. She obtained her husband issued after he was captured. She broke the notion of men being better strategists than women. She was the real power behind Jahangir's rule. Society often views women as only objects of beauty and duty, but she defied it."

Rashmi Dwivedi, the state head for the project from the NGO Breakthrough, believes that gender sensitivity is meant for both girls and boys.

"We are working on changing children's aspirations. If a woman gets married, parents think it is against societal norms for them to stay at her place. Some women are still not allowed to work after marriage. We are saying all this through the curriculum. In practice, the focus now is not on whose daughter or wife these great women were, but on the identities that they scripted, " she notes.

Taken together, the developments around fighter jets as gifts, Razia Sultan's tale: Textbooks smash gender biases in point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.