Andhra Pradesh revises school textbooks to remove gender stereotypes from early education

Andhra Pradesh has revised school textbooks for younger students to promote gender sensitivity, while the state is also introducing practical learning activities and technology-based classroom reforms, HRD Minister Nara Lokesh said.

Speaking at a fireside chat organized by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) in Delhi, Lokesh outlined ongoing reforms across school and higher education, covering curriculum changes, value-based education, technology-enabled learning, gender sensitivity and industry-linked skill development.

The minister said the state is reviewing the courses, majors and minors offered by higher education institutions to assess their relevance and determine whether curricula are aligned with changing market requirements.

One of the changes has been made to textbooks for Classes 1 and 2, where depictions of household responsibilities have been altered to avoid presenting domestic work as the sole responsibility of women.

“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.

The state is also using Saturdays for activities beyond conventional classroom instruction. Lokesh said schools observe Saturday as a “No Bag Day,” allowing students to participate in practical and value-based learning activities.

“Activities include lessons on managing family budgets and agricultural budgets, field exposure visits and an introduction to Artificial Intelligence. Students are being introduced to both the positive and negative sides of AI so they can understand the technology and use it effectively in their chosen fields,” he noted.

Lokesh, who also holds the Information Technology portfolio, said curriculum reform has already gone through two rounds in the state. He said changes would need to continue progressively rather than being implemented through a single overhaul.

According to the minister, curriculum development should take place incrementally, with improvements introduced grade by grade and new components added on a continuing basis.

The state is also exploring the use of technology to make classroom learning more interactive. Lokesh outlined a long-term plan to “gamify” classrooms by combining short digital learning videos with question-based participation.

Under the proposed model, students would watch a 60- or 90-second video summarizing the lesson after each 45-minute class. This would be followed by four to five questions, with students using clicker technology to respond during the session.

The proposed system is intended to generate learning data that can be used to identify areas where individual students require additional support.

“The objective is to shift students from being passive learners to active learners. The learning data would feed into the state's Learning Management System (LMS), enabling the system to identify individual learning gaps and provide prescriptive homework and targeted learning content,” he said.

Lokesh gave the example of a student who performs well in mathematics but struggles with a specific topic such as probability. The proposed system would identify the particular learning gap instead of treating the student as weak in mathematics overall.

“The system would identify the specific gap and provide additional homework and learning material through the LEAP app, which is accessible to parents and teachers as well. This would allow students to clearly understand the areas where they need improvement,” he said.

The proposed technology-based approach would therefore use classroom responses and learning data to provide more targeted academic support. The state is also seeking to connect school education reforms with broader changes in higher education and industry-linked skilling.

Lokesh said the focus is on ensuring that education remains responsive to changing requirements while incorporating value-based learning, practical exposure and technology into the academic process.