All schools to support Co education in Kerala

The Kerala Child Rights Commission has mandated that the tradition of boys-only or girls-only schools end as of the upcoming academic year. Kerala’s State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights has made a historic decision by directing that all schools intended only for boys or girls, regardless of their status as government, private, or aided schools, should be converted to co-education as of the upcoming academic session of 2023–2024. According to the commission, the government should develop an action plan for putting this co-educational model into practise and submit it along with a report within 90 days. Before the plan is implemented, the parents must feel confident that the basic requirements, such as infrastructure with restrooms, will be met.

The decree was issued following a plea by a certain Dr. Issac Paul, who claimed that such “boys only” and “girls only” schools lacked gender justice. There is no need to teach boys and girls in separate schools in the current social context, the commission determined after finding merit in the matter. Furthermore, the existence of such institutions can only be interpreted as a rejection of advanced learning and psychological theories. The existence of such institutions is not justified. The order noted, “International studies on co-ed schools had demonstrated that such schools would instil mutual respect. The best educational institutions in the world are co-educational.

Currently, there are 164 schools exclusively for boys and 280 schools exclusively for girls in the state of Kerala. However, Kerala’s education minister, V Sivankutty, recently announced that 11 government-funded schools that were previously gender-exclusive have now become co-educational. Not only this, but recently some schools have begun using gender-neutral uniforms, which is completely changing the ecosystem of these co-ed schools. There are also schools where students no longer address faculty members as sir or mam and instead just refer to them as “teacher,” regardless of their gender.