New NCERT transgender inclusion manual won’t make life easier for trans students

Schools can be safe spaces only if there is a conscious, consistent effort to undo the gender binary

Written by Biraja Nandan Mishra

When I was growing up, everyone around me — family members and relatives, schoolmates and teachers — described me using an Odia word for a person who is assigned male at birth and exhibits femininity. The word is often used as a transphobic slur. They were all uncomfortable with how I behaved. I was always asked: “Why do you walk or talk like a girl?” Their discomfort with me would take many forms – sometimes leading to curiosity, and many times to the policing of my behaviour through jokes, mild warnings, and even bullying and shaming.

To exist as a gender non-confirming individual in school was a violent lesson in shame and fear. Schools reinforce the norms of the gender binary, regimented through uniforms, gender-segregated seating, toilets and activities like sports. Transgressing those binaries in any form invites violence — emotional, physical, and/or sexual.

A school teacher once asked me to drop out of a dance group that was to perform in the annual day function because I could not dance like a boy. I know of many trans friends who gave up on sports because they did not fit into the binary. Many of us gave up dreams because we could not conform to the gender binary. I lost friendships because I could not act masculine. To avoid shaming and bullying, I started performing masculinity, slowly unlearning my femininity. I desperately wanted to fit into the gender binary.

This bullying, the subtle reminders to fit in, to behave “normally” — these experiences are isolating. I felt alone throughout my childhood. Schools can be an isolating space, especially without many people who actually understand and support you. Lack of affirmation not only due to how one is treated by peers and teachers but because of what one reads in the textbooks that are filled with binaries of gender, adds to the loneliness.

Creating a supportive environment in schools is crucial to ensuring that the rights of trans and gender non-conforming people are protected. It requires a sustained effort. This could include raising awareness amongst teachers and peer groups about gender and the concerns of trans people. Textbooks could be reformed and supplemented with information about the lived reality of trans people. These efforts must also include building anti-discriminatory infrastructure, including demanding fewer documents at the time of enrolment and having gender-neutral toilets, sports, and uniforms.

Earlier this month, in an attempt to ensure the inclusion of transgender students in schools, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) released a draft training manual titled ‘Integrating Transgender Concerns in Schooling Processes’ for school faculties. The manual is riddled with misinformation about transgender people. It has received heavy criticism from the transgender community.

The manual interchangeably uses the words gender, sex, and sexuality. For instance, the foreword of the manual uses the phrase “transgender person by birth” — confusing intersex individuals with transgender individuals. Such confusion furthers stereotypes that all trans people are born with ambiguous genitalia. While mentioning Narthaki Nataraj’s biographical profile, the manual says she was “denied admission at a law college because of her sexuality” (It was actually because of her gender identity). Such vague and irresponsible use of crucial terminology is dangerous and puts trans children in a vulnerable position.

The manual suggests that school faculty meet and converse with parents as one of the solutions to the challenges faced by transgender students. For most trans people, violence begins first at home. Families are often not accepting of their kids’ “deviant” gender identities and resort to violence to “fix them”. Involving parents, especially without students’ consent, will compromise the privacy of the individual/student and out them to their family, potentially putting them at risk for bodily harm, mistreatment and much else.

When the images and information about our bodies, desires, and behaviours are filled with stereotypes and myths, our everyday realities in schools are marked by violations. In this context, such manuals, however well-intentioned, add to the plight of trans and non-binary students.

After family, schools are the first place we interact with people and build connections, where we learn and grow. School also occupies a significant chunk of a student’s day. It becomes crucial then for schools not to be spaces that invoke fear or shame in us. A school should be a place where students, regardless of gender and sexuality, feel safe — more so if they are not straight or cis-gendered. This can only be possible if there is a conscious and consistent effort to undo the gender binary without furthering stereotypes and myths.

Courtesy : TIE

Note: This news piece was originally published in theindianexpress.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights