The National Council for Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) has removed a new training manual on the inclusion of transgender children in schools from its official website. This came after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) sought rectification of “anomalies” in the document.
The “Inclusion of Transgender Children in School Education: Concerns and Roadmap” was a manual to educate and sensitise schools about the LGBTQ+ community and different gender orientations. It featured practices and strategies for teachers to make schools more inclusive for transgender and non-binary children.
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The teacher’s training manual also included the provision of gender-neutral toilets and uniforms, sensitisation on non-teaching staff, discontinuing practices that discriminate children into various school activities based on their gender, reported PTI.
In a letter to NCERT, NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo wrote that a gender-neutral teacher training manual will deny equal rights to children of diverse biological needs. It also said that 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 of children of diverse biological needs. Second, this approach will expose children to unnecessary psychological trauma due to contradictory environments at home and in school,” the letter read.
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“It is also highlighted in the manual (chapter 3) that teachers are suggested to discuss with students about puberty blockers and its availability for adolescents. Further, the background and qualifications of the members of the drafting committee was not verified,” the letter added.
A senior official at the ministry of education told Hindustan Times, the NCERT has informed that the manual was “still under process and it was inadvertently uploaded on the website.” The manual was drafted by the department of gender studies of the council “with all due considerations” and it will provide a response to the NCPCR.
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