CBSE: Nothing to do with book containing ‘objectionable material’ in viral X post
CBSE posts “clarification” on X, says claim “baseless and incorrect”; book in viral post titled ‘A Guide to Self Awareness and Empowerment’, by Gagan Deep Kaur
A viral social media post showing pages of a book on adolescent dating and relationships and claiming that those were from a CBSE Class 9 book has been rubbished by the board.
Board’s clarification
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has posted a “clarification” on X, saying the claim was “totally baseless and incorrect”. It has added that the book in the pictures is titled A Guide to Self Awareness and Empowerment, written by Gagan Deep Kaur and published G Ram Books Pvt Ltd Educational Publishers.
The board has further clarified that it neither publishes any books, nor does it recommend any books by private publishers. However, the CBSE calling the material on dating and relationships in the books as “objectionable” has not gone down too well with many users.
The book
The sections from the book posted on X featured a chapter titled ‘Dating and Relationships: Understanding Yourself and the Other Person’. The chapter has a snippet about a girl and a boy starting a relationship.
Another page shows definitions of commonly used relationship-related slangs such as “catfishing”, “ghosting”, and “cyberbullying”. There is also a section in the page asking readers to rate themselves on their understanding of dating and relationships saying “no rating is good or bad”.
While most users thought it was a progressive move by the board, some doubted its authenticity. Tinder India commented on the post, “next chapter: how to deal with breakups”. Some users reminisced how they were told to read the chapter on reproduction by themselves or the teachers totally skipped it in high school. However, now the board has clarified that it has nothing to do with the book.
