MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
(DR. SUBHAS SARKAR)
(a) & (b): National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has developed material including training modules for the capacity building of teachers on the issues related to gender in education. 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.
Under NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement), a nation-wide integrated teacher training program for teachers under Samagra Shiksha, teachers are trained for relevance of Gender Dimensions in Teaching and Learning Process which helps teachers to use and adopt learning activities that foster gender sensitive classroom environment.
In addition, ‘Guidelines on School Safety and Security’ developed by the Department, inter-alia, contain provisions for fixing the accountability of school management, various stakeholders and different departments in ensuring the safety and security of children studying in Government Schools, Government-Aided Schools and Private Schools. These safety guidelines envisage constitution of anti-bullying committees, Parent Teacher Associations, School Management Committees as preventive measures to check such activities.
(c) & (d): The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, entitles every child of age 6 to 14 years to a right to free and compulsory education in a neighborhood school till completion of elementary education. Section 8(c) of the RTE Act, 2009 provides that the appropriate government has to ensure that the children belonging to weaker sections or disadvantaged groups are not discriminated against or prevented from pursuing and completing elementary education on any grounds.
National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 identifies transgender children as Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs) and provides for equitable quality education, inter-alia, for all such students. This includes provisions for assisting transgender children in gaining access to education, support for community-based interventions that address local context-specific barriers to transgender children’s access to and participation in education, thereby aiming to eliminate any remaining disparity in access to education (including vocational education) for children from any gender or other SEDGs.
Samagra Shiksha, an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII, aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. It envisages the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levelsand supports States and Union Territories in implementation of the RTE Act, 2009. Bridging gender and social category gaps at all levels of school education is one of the major objectives of the scheme. The scheme reaches out to girls, Children with Special Needs (CwSN) and children belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), minority communities and transgenders for an equitable and inclusive education.
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