Workbook on gender equality: Publishers eye school curriculum

The 32-page Marathi workbook has 13 pre-tested activities,puzzles and illustrations that will help children understand the terms related to gender discrimination. For example,one of the images shows two children. It is not specified who is a girl and who is a boy. While one of the child is carrying a doll and an utensil in the hands,the other one is with a bat and a ball. In the worksheet,the students are asked to identify who is Kamla and who is Kamal. “The activity is followed by a discussion,wherein we will explain them that no kid is born with a doll or a bat biologically; it’s the society that discriminates them,” said Pawar. He added pretesting of the workbook with rural and urban kids showed encouraging results in terms of comprehension of the content,visuals and messages.

Programme officer at CHSJ Pratibha D’Mello said the project will make young boys realise the privileges they get because of their gender. “In the long run,they will give up their privileges and support the women in the family,be it their mother,sister,daughter or wife,” said D’Mello.

This workbook outlines achievements of some of the great women like Savitribai Phule,Rani Laxmibai,Kalpana Chawla,Kiran Bedi. It also gives information about men who have contributed towards woman empowerment namely Babasaheb Ambedkar,Raja Rammohan Roy,Mahatma Phule and Rajashri Shahu Maharaj. Pawar said the concept has been inspired by a similar book called Umang in Lucknow.

Lakshmi Kumar of The Orchid School said she plans to include the workbook in Life Skills Orientation programme and has requested Pawar for an English version of the workbook so that the students can comprehend it better.

Samyak is also in talks with the Sinhagad Institute of Education and Springdale BEd College regarding the inclusion of the workbook in their teachers’ training programme.