Review of (revisiting) the transgender education in India: An analysis of the National Educational Policy 2020

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Subhra Rajat Balabantaray,Avni Singh
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2504

ACADEMIC PAPER

Review of (revisiting) the transgender education in India:

An analysis of the National Educational Policy 2020

Subhra Rajat Balabantaray | Avni Singh

Department of Economics and International

Business, School of Business, Kandoli Campus,

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies,

Dehradun, India

Correspondence

Subhra Rajat Balabantaray, Department of

Economics and International Business, School

of Business, Kandoli Campus, University of

Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun,

Uttarakhand 248007, India.

Email: subhrarajat@gmail.com

The transgender community/communities (Henceforth, referred to as TGC) has been

facing numerous hardships and challenges, which subsequently acts as a deterrent in

their social, cultural and economic development. Education, which acts as an emanci-

pation for all social evils is also quite very low for these communities. In this context,

the paper seeks to understand the educational rights for the TGC in India.

1|INTRODUCTION

The transgender community (henceforth, referred to as TGC) are indi-

viduals born with male or female anatomies but they feel radically dif-

ferent from their bodily structure Rafeek, 2015). As per census 2011,

there are around 4.9-lakh third gender in the country who faces social

discrimination and harassment (Rajkumar, 2016). Mostly abandoned

by family they become subjects of humiliation. TGC have suffered

great injustices in the previous three centuries. They have been mar-

ginalised, socially, economically and educationally (Chandra, 2017).

Census data also reveals that 46% of the TGC have some level of edu-

cation (Chandra, 2017). Rafeek (2015) has also highlighted that TGC

are deprived of their basic human rights.

International Covenant of Social, Cultural and Educational Rights

adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966 clearly

expresses that rights should be progressively realised, without any dis-

crimination on the basis of sex, race, caste, colour and so forth. It rec-

ognises the rights of the individual to have adequate living conditions,

with social security, family life, employment opportunities, and health

access. All these rights can be realised by realising another right men-

tioned in the covenant, that is, the Right to Education. Therefore, the

realisation of the Right to Education can be put first in the order of

priority among these rights as it enables the development of human

potential to its fullest and awards a sense of dignity. In this paper, the

authors have tried to understand the right to education from the per-

spective of TGC and how far the policy has been successful in

addressing their issues and concerns.

One of the primary aim of this study is to understand how the

National Policy of Educating (2020) has facilitated transgender educa-

tion in India.

2|STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In several countries and societies TGC are looked down upon and

ridiculed. Evidences suggest that negative attitudes towards transgen-

der individuals, most commonly referred to as transphobia

(Elischberger, Glazier, Hill, & Verduzco-Baker, 2018; Hill & Wil-

loughby, 2005) or transprejudice (Winter, 2009). We need to under-

stand the vicious circle over here as how primarily the TGC are

segregated and marginalised from the mainstream and the lack of edu-

cation further segregates them from formal job sector thereby making

their lives and livelihood extremely difficult. From among the ones

who attain education also face tremendous difficulties in completing

their education and many of them eventually drop out.

A variety of problems that include verbal and physical abuse, iso-

lation and rejection, denial of family property are faced by transgender

in family. Society often stigmatises and discriminate transgender

based on their sexuality or gender identity. There is need for social

acceptance of transgender group.

Education & skills opportunity plays pivotal role in enhancing jobs

and economic opportunities for an individual (Rajkumar, 2016). TGC

are primary deprived from family and school environment which

makes them susceptible to risking their further career oppurtunities.

Received: 10 September 2020 Accepted: 15 September 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2504

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2504. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 1of7

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2504