The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has removed a teachers’ training manual on the integration of transgender or gender-nonconforming students in schools from its website.
This came just days after the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) sought to rectify “discrepancies” in the document.
NCERT’s Gender Studies Department recently published a teacher-training manual titled ‘Inclusion of Transgender Children in School Education: Concerns and Roadmap’ on its website, with the goal of educating and sensitising teachers about the practices and strategies to make schools more sensitive and inclusive for transgender and gender-nonconforming students.
The teacher’s training manual advocated for gender-neutral toilets and uniforms, the elimination of practises that separate children for various school activities based on their gender, and the invitation of members of the transgender community to speak on campus, among other things.
However, on November 2, NCPCR wrote to NCERT, stating that it had received complaints about the teaching manual’s content and had taken suo moto cognizance of the matter in relation to deprivation and violation of child rights.
“The text of the manual suggests gender-neutral infrastructure for children that does not commensurate with their gender realities and basic needs. Also, the idea of creating and removing binaries shall deny them equal rights as children with diverse biological needs,” NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said in the letter to NCERT.
“This approach will expose children to unnecessary psychological trauma due to contradictory environments at home and in school,” the NCPCR letter read.
“It is also highlighted in the manual [chapter 3] that teachers are suggested to discuss with students about puberty blockers and their availability for adolescents. Further, the background and qualifications of the members of the drafting committee were not verified,” the NCPCR letter added while commenting on the manual.
Meanwhile, NCPCR asked NCERT to “take appropriate action to rectify the ‘discrepancies’ in the document”, and said that “antecedents of the members of the drafting committee may be verified”.