NCERT trans inclusion manual had to evolve hence dropped, Edu Min to Parliament

The Ministry of Education informed the Parliament, on Monday, that the recently removed training manual titled, ‘Inclusion of Transgender Children in School Education: Concerns and Roadmaps, was dropped because it had to undergo various stages of finalisation before its release.

“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,” said Minister of State Education Annpurna Devi in the Lok Sabha through a written reply. Devi added, “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.”

On November 6, based on a request by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) removed the teachers’ training manual on the integration of transgender or gender non-conforming students in schools from the latter’s website. NCPCR Chairperson, Priyank Kanoongo said, that 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.

In response to Congress member of parliament Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s question, MoS Devi also said, “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 material/manuals/modules.”

Some of the other measures taken by the Ministry of Education to create gender sensitization, which include the National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) which is an integrated training program that helps teachers adopt learning activities that foster a gender-sensitive classroom environment. Apart from this, Devi also informed that the National Education Policy (2020) identifies transgender kids under the socio-economically disadvantaged groups and provides “equitable quality education.”