A school in the city held a session with its teachers on being more sensitive towards and accepting different gender identities.
Appreciating the move, mental health professionals said this should be followed across schools.
The experts said they see young people who come to them seeking help after being bullied or harassed or are brought by their parents to “correct their gender”.
Education of teachers will help break stereotypes in society and reduce the use of “dismissive words”, intentionally or unintentionally, that can be hurtful to students, they added.
A few weeks ago, Calcutta International School organised a session that was attended by 70-odd teachers and administrative staff who were addressed on how they can talk to students about gender incongruence and the “development of sexuality”.
“Adults might end up using dismissive words without being aware of the psychological state of the person and that could be hurtful to a young person,” said psychiatrist Jai Ranjan Ram.
Ram said that a significant number of young people are exploring or are confused about their gender identity and deserve both space and empathy.
The session at Calcutta International School was conducted by Abhishek Dey, co-founder of Action for Well Being, who conducts sessions to sensitise people, especially teachers and students, about the LGBTQIA+ community.
Dey said when a teacher becomes a bully, knowingly or unknowingly, it gives undue advantage to the peer group to make fun of the person who belongs to a sexual minority or has a different gender identity.
Examples of how it can amount to insensitive comments are “why are you wearing this?” or “why are you standing like a girl”.
“...and that gives opportunity to the rest of the students to make fun of the person. You (the teachers) have to be a little more vigilant that something like this is not happening to your students,” Dey told his audience.
He said teachers could have more discussions in classrooms through projects or movie screenings, book discussions by queer writers and normalise the stigma attached to the LGBTQIA+ community.
At the end of the 90-minute session, senior school principal Tina Servaia asked the teachers to “spend some time reflecting on ourselves, our stereotypes and our value judgements”.
“There is no space for value judgment. What are our values and what are the judgements we make based on our values? We should spend some time reflecting on it and whether it comes out in the classroom. Knowing us, it will never come out intentionally but maybe it comes out unintentionally and if we could think about it,” said Servaia.
The school has a club that supports and gives space to the LGBTQIA+ community to create awareness, sensitivity and visibility on the campus.
“There is still a stigma associated with LGBTQIA+ community and there are teachers who have fundamental beliefs because of which they find it difficult to accept gender fluidity,” said psychiatrist Sanjay Garg.
“Young people come to us after being harassed and bullied. It is not always overt but they feel they are being marked. Many of them believe that when they are in college the harassment would stop because they imagine colleges to be more open but it does not happen,” he said.
Pratima Nayar, junior school principal at Calcutta International School, said the role of the teacher transcends textbooks and such an initiative was only the beginning.
“We come across students who are exploring their sexual orientation and despite knowing, we with our mannerisms or bodily cues, may send across a message which is inconsiderate or not empathetic. Such sessions open our minds and help us reflect and do readings as well,” said Nayar.
Psychotherapist Farishta Dastur Mukerji said she sees school students across institutions who are victims of shaming or harassment.
“There is bullying, harassment and non-acceptance both in schools and families. It happens because we are conditioned to think in a certain way..., which are different from what we see around us,” said Dastur Mukerji.
Both Ram and Garg said they see parents who bring their children seeking help “to correct them”. After the parents are counselled, “many of them do not come back”, said Garg.
Sometimes parents believe that their children have picked up a gender identity by reading about it on the Internet.
“Teachers have to find teachable moments in classrooms rather than wait to have a session with their students on the topic,” said Ram.