After eight months of continuous workshops and training on the rights and needs of transgender students, 28 schools in the national capital have been declared ‘trans-friendly’, according to Hindustan Times.
Part of a pilot project ‘Purple Board’, this is an initiative taken by an NGO called Society for People’s Awareness Care and Empowerment (SPACE) in collaboration with the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education, with support from the Netherlands Embassy, reported The Indian Express.
The aim of the project was to make education accessible to students who identify themselves as transgender or wish not to conform to any gender identity.
The workshops conducted addressed the stigma around trans-genders and modelled measures to identify and eliminate trans-bullying.
The the heads of the 28 schools were felicitated in an awards ceremony to mark the milestone.
The Workshops
In October 2018, the principals and heads of these schools attended a workshop conducted by the NGO. Soon these workshops and sessions were extended to faculty and students of Class 11-12 as well, with 4-5 workshops conducted per school.
The workshops included sessions with trans-gender members of SPACE, who sensitised the students and faculty on transgender issues and the ways in which schools could be a difficult place for them.
These workshops and sessions have also urged the schools to take up some important steps such as
- creating at least one unisex or gender-neutral washroom in the school
- putting up a chart on the school noticeboard stating that it is an “anti-transbullying school”
- setting up an anti-transbullying committee.
(With inputs from The Indian Express and Hindustan Times)
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