National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has transferred two senior faculty members who developed the teachers’ manual on inclusion of transgender children in schools from the Department of Gender Studies, according to reports.
As per reports, Prof Mona Yadav, department head of the Gender Studies and former HOD, Prof Poonam Agrawal (2015-2018) were transferred to the Department of Education of Groups with Special Needs and the Central Institute of Educational Technology respectively.
On November 2, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had taken cognizance of the NCERT manual aimed at ‘gender sensitization’ in schools. The NCPCR had taken cognizance of the matter under section 13 (I) of CPCR Act, 2005 on the basis of a complaint filed by Vinay Joshi from Maharashtra.
NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo in the letter to Major Harsh Kumar, Secretary, NCERT had inquired about the manual titled ‘Inclusion of Transgender Children in School Education: Concerns and Road Map’ published by the Department of Gender Studies at NCERT that “deprive and violated child rights”.
NCPCR noted that the complainant highlighted several points that were in violation of Child Rights. It said, “The text of the manual suggests gender-neutral infrastructure for children that does not commensurate with their gender realities and basic needs. Also, the idea of creating removing binaries shall deny them equal rights of children of diverse biological needs.”
NCPCR had asked NCERT to reply with comments and take appropriate action to remove the anomalies in the document published on the NCERT website. It also urged NCERT to verify the anecdotes of the members of the drafting committee. NCERT has been asked to reply within seven days.
The Department of Gender Studies at NCERT had earlier published a document titled ‘Inclusion of Transgender Children in School Education: Concerns and Roadmap’ where it said that toilets were used to brainwash children into believing that there were only two sexes, men and women. Besides that, the training manual appeared to give its support for puberty blockers, medication that has gained widespread notoriety in recent times. The medicines were used to block the development of puberty in children which permanently alters their natural course of development.
Following public outrage over the manual, NCERT had removed the document from the public access.