For A Rainbow Classroom

Context: Society/Government need to revamp infrastructure, processes, curriculum & teacher education to  provide an inclusive and equitable education for all.

Issues faced by transgender community

• Queerphobia: That is a sense of fear and hatred towards anything outside indentities of gender binary.
• Mis-information: Even medical textbooks describes  non-binary gender identities as “offensive perversions” and “mental disorders”.
  • This results in practice of negative reinforcement tactics like identifying it with displeasure or even resorting to punishment to “correct” it.
• Educational marginalisation: According to the 2011 Census, literacy rate of transgender is just 46 % compared to 74% of general population. In 2020, there were only 19 transgender candidates among the 18 lakh students appearing for class 10 board exams.
• Victim of social insensitivity: Transgender childrens school experiences are marked by bullying, labeling, rejection, and humiliation, leading to mental health crisis and low academic output.
  • UNESCO survey(2018) revealed that
    • Phyical harassment: 60% transgender children experienced physical harassment in high school.
    • Sexual harassment: 43% even stated being sexually harassed in elementary school.
    • Hiding out: Only 18 %reported incidents of abuse and harassment to school authorities.
• Mental health and developmental issues: Constantly faces reduced interactions with peers(73%), depression and anxiety(70%), decreased academic concentration(63%) and school absenteeism(53%).

Way Forward

• Provide acess to LGBTQ+ children in school through
  • Creation of Gender Inclusion Fund as mentioned in NEP 2020.
  • Nurturing inclusive classrooms through conditional cash transfers, distribution of bicycles, provision for sanitation and toilets.
• Awareness and Acceptability of LGBTQ+ community through right education and conduct.
• Reforming curriculum and teacher education:
  • Focus on inclusive languages like using “partner” instead of “husband/wife” or “them” instead of “him/her” and integrating themes like identity, diversity, and social justice in curriculum.

• • Using Safe space signage in schools, comprehensive sex education with age appropriate-learning to and through the parent-teacher associations and school management committees etc.