Jane Kaushik could not contain herself when she received her appointment letter to teach at a private school in Uttar Pradesh’s Mohammadi-Kheri area. After scores of schools rejected the 27-year-old’s application because of her trans identity over the last few years, one had finally agreed to hire her and “provide an amiable working environment”. She booked her train tickets immediately.
But the moment she reported for duty with her documents at the boarding school in Lakhimpur-Kheri district, she was told that the only way she could continue was if she made sure that no one in the school—neither staff nor students—found out about her transgender identity. Badly in need of a job, Ms. Kaushik agreed. “But I cannot hide my body, the way I look,” she said.
Within a week, which was filled with students making fun of her and her colleagues unwilling to support her, she was called to the principal’s office and “forced to resign” because some students and staff had “discovered” that she was a transwoman.
Forced to resign
Ms. Kaushik was appointed as the Trained Graduate Teacher (Social Science and English) at the Uma Devi Children’s Academy, a boarding school, after a rigorous round of interviews on November 22. She reported for duty on November 25 and a week later on December 3, the principal had forced her to resign, she said.
The school has denied these allegations and insisted that she was terminated because of her “incompetence in subject knowledge of Social Science”. Ms. Kaushik has a Master’s degree in English and a B.Ed, specialising in teaching Social Science.
“The principal told me that since some students and teachers had now found out about my trans identity, I should resign. I pleaded with her, requested her for hours, but she insisted that I write my resignation letter and leave the school and hostel premises that very night,” Ms. Kaushik told The Hindu.
Ostracised and abused
She said that in the one week that she taught at the school, she was ostracised by fellow teachers, and often abused and made fun of by students, who also used slurs like ‘hijra’. “Every time I heard or saw students doing this, I would try my best to teach them that it was not right to treat anyone this way, irrespective of their gender, and also the importance of respecting people from marginalised backgrounds,” Ms. Kaushik said, adding that the call to the principal’s office came after one such interaction that she had had with a student, where she revealed her gender identity.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act became law in 2019. Since then, State governments have, from time to time, taken measures to protect the rights and dignity of trans people. Recently, the UP government formed a Transgender Welfare Board and also allowed trans people to apply for teaching jobs at government schools by identifying as trans. But these measures are yet to result in ground-level changes in the way that employers treat trans employees due to a lack of basic sensitisation training, Ms. Kaushik said, adding that what had happened to her was just an example of this.
After she returned to Delhi, Ms. Kaushik said that she made repeated representations to the school authorities to acknowledge her resignation in writing but to no avail. A day later, she got in touch with the Delhi Commission for Women and registered her grievance there. Following this, the local police in Mohammadi-Kheri visited the school and informed them that they cannot remove any staff without a reason.
School claims “incompetence”
Only after this did Ms. Kaushik receive an email from the school on December 5. The email had a letter dated December 3, which said that while her English teaching was “awesome”, she was “facing challenges” with Social Science. It added that the school had appointed her even though she had not shown confidence in her subject knowledge of Social Science during the interview.
When contacted, the school’s director Sunny Gupta denied that she was terminated because of her trans identity. “She was terminated because of her incompetence with subject knowledge of Social Science and given the fact that boards and pre-boards were around the corner. She is a great teacher and excellent with English. But even at interview we saw she was not able to cope with Social Science but we appointed her when she requested multiple times for a chance to prove herself.” The principal has not responded to multiple calls and messages seeking her comment.
“How is this possible? They did three interviews with me, every time with a new topic and only then appointed me. Students I was teaching there have told me that they thought I was one of the best teachers they have had,” said Ms. Kaushik.
Her demand is that the school take her back with respect for her gender identity, the Principal apologises for insulting her, sensitisation training is provided for senior students and staffers, and a complaint mechanism is set up for trans staff and students. Ms. Kaushik has now also started an online petition on Change.org addressed to the District Magistrate of Lakhimpur-Kheri district, seeking that she be reinstated.
Published - December 07, 2022 01:41 am IST
