NEW DELHI: The training manual titled, ‘Inclusion of Transgender Children in School Education: Concerns and Roadmaps, was dropped by NCERT because it had to undergo various stages of finalisation before its release, the education ministry told Parliament on Monday.
“It is an academic exercise which has to undergo various stages before it is made a public document and is used for training by different stakeholders,” junior education minister Annpurna Devi told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
“NCERT has been training teachers, teacher educators and school heads on gender sensitization with an all-inclusive approach. The concerns related to transgender children are addressed in different textual and training materials/manuals/modules,” she said in response to a question by Congress member of parliament Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Social Justice Matters | On gender, the conservative backlash hits classrooms
The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on November 6 removed the teachers’ training manual on the integration of transgender or gender non-conforming students in schools from its website following a request by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
NCPCR chairperson, Priyank Kanoongo contended the text of the manual will expose children to “unnecessary psychological trauma” and the idea of removing binaries will supposedly contradict the idea of creating an inclusive environment.
{{/usCountry}}NCPCR chairperson, Priyank Kanoongo contended the text of the manual will expose children to “unnecessary psychological trauma” and the idea of removing binaries will supposedly contradict the idea of creating an inclusive environment.
{{/usCountry}}NCERT’s decision to remove the manual exposed the government body to sharp criticism from a Madras high court’s justice N Anand Venkatesh on December 6. The judge described the removal of the training manual a “very shocking development” and underlined that if someone really had a grievance, “the same should have been addressed in a proper manner through proper consultation and meetings, and no one can be allowed to arm twist a state-run council into forcibly withdrawing a material that came out after a long study by a committee”.
“The report of an expert body after a detailed study cannot be dumped just because a handful of persons are opposed to this very idea of recognising persons belonging to the community,” justice Venkatesh said.