Achieving Gender Justice through Education
This book delves into the uncharted territories of how gender dynamics subtly shape educational experiences in Indian schools. While traditional educational reforms focus on increasing enrolment and making textbooks more inclusive, this book highlights the overlooked yet powerful influence of “hidden curriculum” – the implicit lessons that subtly shape students’ views on gender, caste, class, and religion.
Positioned in feminist cultural reproduction perspective and informed by capability approach, this book explores education as an object of demand, a conduit for diffusion of ideas, and a site for gender activism. It provides a critical analysis of how schools can be transformed into spaces of empowerment, negotiation, and resistance for all students. Drawing on immersive research that challenges ordinary interactions and processes, it expands our understanding of what constitutes curriculum and knowledge.
Particularly useful for educationists, educators, policymakers, academics, curriculum developers, teacher training institutes, gender studies departments, and university centres offering educational studies courses, this book offers a captivating read for anyone interested in examining their own educational experiences.
Arpan Tulsyan is an Indian researcher and author specialising in the intersection of education and gender. With 16 years of experience in development research, she focusses on education for girls and curriculum assessments.
Raised in a traditional Marwari family from a small town in Jharkhand, her perspectives transformed during her time at Welham Girls’ School and Lady Shri Ram College, where she encountered diverse ideologies. These contrasting experiences sparked a lifelong curiosity about societal norms and gender roles.
In this book, Arpan weaves these rich experiences into a compelling narrative, integrating rigorous research with a thoughtful analysis of the interplay between educational policies and real-world experiences in schools.