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Gender-neutral education will cause 'gender confusion', 'sexual anarchy' among Kerala kids: Congress ally IUML

"The gender equality and rational thought that the education policy aims to bring in cannot be allowed at state expense. It will lead to the negation of religion. It must be removed from the policy," IUML MLA N Samsudheen claimed in the Kerala Assembly.

Gender neutral education will cause 'gender confusion', 'sexual anarchy' among Kerala kids: Congress ally IUML
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First Published Dec 12, 2022, 6:30 PM IST

Gender-neutral views in the ruling Left front's proposed new education policy will result in "negation of religion" and "sexual anarchy", the Congress-led United Democratic Front opposition on Monday contended in the Kerala assembly. The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front government, however, said nothing had been decided yet.

Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key ally of the Congress-led UDF opposition, said gender-neutral views in the proposed new education policy would create "gender confusion" among children and the general public.

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"The gender equality and rational thought that the education policy aims to bring in cannot be allowed at state expense. It will lead to the negation of religion. It must be removed from the policy," IUML MLA N Samsudheen claimed in the assembly.

"We need equal opportunities, not gender equality. Gender-neutral views will lead to sexual anarchy. That cannot be allowed in education. The government is trying to create gender confusion among children and the public," Samsudheen claimed.

Alleging that the state government was trying to create a "genderless" society, the IUML legislator believes that having mixed benches and hostels will create problems, and gender-neutral uniforms cannot be imposed upon girls. He demanded that the government must remove such measures from its education policy.

Samsudheen, who was of the view that gender was assigned at birth and was not a social construct, said the state government's policy will destroy Kerala's culture.

"Gender is decided not by our feelings but by birth," he said while claiming that the Pinarayi Vijayan government was trying to sneak a "liberal agenda" into the field of education.

Refuting the allegations and contentions of the IUML MLA, state Public Education Minister V Sivankutty said the government had not imposed gender-neutral uniforms or mixed benches or mixed hostels.

"The uniforms are decided by the school management in consultation with the parents and the local self-government institutions. We have not imposed any gender-neutral uniforms," he said.

The minister further clarified that while sex was decided at birth, gender was a social construct. He further said that the government only wanted secularism and had no intention of bringing in "negation of religion". He also said that the government's education reforms are in line with the National Education Policy 2020.

To recall, IUML legislator M K Muneer had criticised the state government's purported gender-neutral policy with regard to uniforms worn by school students in July. A section of people under the collective of a Muslim coordination committee had taken out a protest march against the gender-neutral uniform introduced by the Balussery government girls' higher secondary school in Kozhikode. The protesters claimed that the decision amounted to insulting the modesty of women and that it was part of "imposing liberal ideology" among students.

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