Critiquing, Challenging, and Questioning Power Dynamics and Gender Inequities: A Critical Perspective in the Adolescent Education Programme in India
Abstract
Sexuality education stands in a tug-of-war against the cultural and moral ethos of India, where public discussion of topics of a sexual nature is widely considered taboo (Das, 2014). This acts as a barrier to the implementation of effective sexuality education in schools nationwide. This was evident in 2006 when the Adolescent Education Programme (AEP), introduced by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the National AIDS Control Organization, was rejected by twelve states as culturally inappropriate (Gabler, 2012). Since the backlash, the AEP has undergone multiple changes to make it as agreeable to all as possible (Malik, 2022). In its present form, along with its strengths, the AEP also has many gaps and challenges, allowing for continued improvement.
Against this background, in this paper, I critically analyze the AEP curriculum that supports or resists gendered power dynamics in the Indian educational context by engaging in thematic analysis (TA) and critical discourse analysis (CDA). When TA and CDA collaborate, the understanding of “power as embedded in texts as a way to reproduce understandings of social positioning and reinforce hegemonic understandings of culture” (Lawless & Chen, 2019, p. 94) comes into clearer focus. The current AEP curriculum has been developed by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as part of Ayushman Bharat, a flagship programme of the Government of India. Prepared for teachers and teacher educators, it focuses on students from the upper primary to the senior secondary levels in all schools (NCERT, 2020). I draw on my master’s thesis to propose pedagogic opportunities in this curriculum with the belief that education is a form of political intervention and can create possibilities for individual and social transformation in school environments and the larger society (Lee & Johnstone, 2023).
