Transgender persons in educational institutions – Discriminated and Marginalised.

Transgender Persons in Educational Institutions

This article will explore the educational opportunities for transgender persons in schools across India. This article will detail the discrimination they face in learning environments and how it affects their capabilities as an individual. We will also explore the theories on how this may later impact the quality of life for them when they grow up to be adults. The main indicator we will look at throughout this article is “Quality of Life” in adolescents. We will have to rely on qualitative first person evidence and accounts on the life of social exclusion and discrimination which transgender students go through in schools to grasp the crux of the discrimination in educational institutions.

Throughout this investigation, we will look at the challenges transgender persons face in educational environments and what can be understood by the experiences of transgender students.

Key references and their definitions:

Adolescents: Persons aged 10-19

Quality of life: According to Britannica Encyclopedia, "Quality of Life" is the degree to which an individual is healthy, comfortable, and able to participate in or enjoy life events.

Transgender: According to international bodies like the World Profession Association for Transgender Health, World Heath Organization and the American Psychological Association, a transgender is a person whose gender identity does not line up with the sex assigned at birth. The transgender community is regarded to be a sexual minority in India and is a marginalised community.

Marginalised: Treating a person or community as insignificant and Peripheral

The transgender community is one of the most marginalised communities in India is the transgender community because they do not fit in the two general categories of gender, ‘male’ and ‘female’. Due to this, they face countless problems ranging from discrimination to social exclusion, poor access to education and medical facilities, unemployment and many more issues which associate with the quality of life of an individual. Such systems have regular lapses and it’s important to analyse the impact of certain solutions proposed, and implemented by the Government Of India, and scrutinise the “on the ground impact”. In this investigation, we will explicitly focus on the struggles of transgender students in schools.

Ignorance to the transgender pass percentage.

There is an existential problem in the current education system that largely pertains to data scrutiny. The educational system has widely ignored the transgender pass percentage rate and instead focused on the “overall passing rate”. This in turn allows us to turn a blind eye to the quality of academics for transgender students and how it pertains to social stigmas and socio-economic backgrounds at home. After we understand how certain persons who identify in a marginalised community are impacted, we can evaluate certain course correction measures in order to improve the lives of persons in the marginalised community.

Transgender students faced issues of discrimination and were not treated with respect

To improve the lives of transgender persons, it is important that certain social stigmas are eliminated. Transgender persons must feel confident enough to reveal their gender and feel empowered to express themselves.

Transgender students in educational institutions.

In July of 2020, the Central Board of Secondary Education released data on the passing rate of their students. The results were made available in a press release by C.B.S.E. The results indicate that there has been a significant spike in passing rates among the overall student body. If we sort through the data based on demographics, we can ascertain that the decline in the passing rates of transgender students was widely ignored. While the overall pass percentage of class 10 students has increased by 0.36% and that of class 12 students has increased by 5.38%, the pass percentage of transgender persons of class 10 has decreased by 15.79% and those of class 12 has decreased by 16.66%.

The aforementioned sheds light on the academic success rate of transgender students and gives us a glimpse into the ground reality. We must determine why it is extremely important for it to be higher, the problems transgender persons encounter in educational institutions, and the steps that must be taken to ensure that the academic success rate is high for this section of the society.

Transgender persons primarily face discriminatory practices in educational institutions. The following statements are interviews conducted by the International Commission of Jurists for their research paper “Living with Dignity”:

“I was humiliated, scolded, and punished by the teachers – I was made to stand on the bench, thrown out of class and interrogated about my gender expression. They would ask me to wear the girls’ uniform and also slap me and cane me for not following the dress code. After puberty things became very difficult. My dysphoria* became very strong and I couldn’t focus on my studies. I started failing subjects and had depression.”

*dysphoria: A state of unease or dissatisfaction with life

Such incidents are common occurrences in educational institutions.

According to the report, “School uniforms, dress code and appearance, participation in sports, access to toilets, and sometimes even seating arrangements are frequently determined by dividing male and female students to the exclusion or discomfort of transgender and gender non-binary persons. These conditions make it difficult for students with gender expression or identity, at variance with the sex assigned at birth to realise their right to education.” (Living with dignity, Page 78, ICJ.org).

Even if educational access to transgender people is increased, it is extremely important that such social stigmas are eliminated in order to let transgender persons achieve academic success. Such measures will have to be taken up by the government, to include special provisions in such activities for transgender persons. Similar to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act, using derogatory slang words against transgender persons should be made a non-bailable offence. This needs to be done in order to incorporate transgender persons into civil society at an acceptable level. To address discriminatory practices in classrooms, it is important for the educational instructors to be taught basic practices in order to encourage lesser discrimination and how to treat any, and all persons with the same respect that they would give their family members. Examples of such practices is to respect the preferred pronouns of the Transgender student, recognising their voices, and social inclusion in classrooms.

Inclusion and amplification of transgender voices in key policy making positions will promote civil discourse which will allow the government to make more inclusive decisions for transgender persons. Representation in parliament will also play a key role in making more inclusive policy decisions. There is a desperate need for representation in parliament as there is an evident lack of research. For example, annual statistics for jobs, crimes etc don't capture the adversaries of the on ground situation.

The implementation of such strict measures will benefit transgender students in order to achieve academic success. If access to educational institutions is granted, it is important for such measures to be in place to make sure transgender pupils get the respect and dignity they deserve.

This article was written by Neil Sudhalkar. Get in touch with me today via email: neilsudhalkar@thedailydosage.in. Thanks for reading this article. If you find that this article is of value, do consider subscribing to my newsletter. It’s free and there will be no spam.

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