Andhra Pradesh has revised school textbooks to challenge gender stereotypes and inculcate respect for women among children from an early age, says HRD Minister Nara Lokesh.

Textbooks for Classes I and II have earlier predominantly portrayed women performing household chores. “The revised textbooks depict men and women sharing household responsibilities equally, with 50% of the chores assigned to each, to discourage gender stereotyping from the early years,” Mr. Lokesh said while speaking at a fireside chat organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) in New Delhi on Thursday.

The Minister said school education was particularly close to his heart and that his frequent visits to schools reflected his interest in working with children. The government was working towards ensuring ‘one class, one teacher’, with the proportion of schools meeting the standard rising from 3% when he assumed charge to 33% now, he said.

Mr. Lokesh outlined the State government’s education reforms, focusing on value-based learning, curriculum reform, technology-enabled education and industry-linked skilling.

Informing that the State had recently completed recruitment of around 16,000 teachers and it intended to undertake teacher recruitment every year, Mr. Lokesh stressed the importance of value-based education and said development in line with the vision of Viksit Bharat would be incomplete without values. “There is no shortcut to success,” he insisted.

The Minister said Saturday had been designated as a “No Bag Day” in schools, providing scope for practical and experiential learning. Students were introduced to activities such as managing family and agricultural budgets, field visits and basic exposure to Artificial Intelligence.

On AI education, he said students were being taught both, the benefits and potential risks of technology so that they could understand and use it effectively in their respective fields.

Mr. Lokesh said the State had already undertaken two rounds of curriculum reform. Curriculum transformation, he said, could not be achieved overnight and required a systematic, incremental approach, with grade-wise improvements and continuous additions. He also referred to technology-enabled initiatives, including the LEAP App, and the efforts being made to make learning more engaging through gamification and greater field exposure.