• Being alert to conversations among children in the classroom that propagate gender stereotyping

• Zero tolerance towards sexual remarks

• Making gender sensitisation part of value education lessons

• Talking to parents

These are some of the ways in which schools are trying to address issues of gender discrimination that they said are deep-seated.

After the rape and murder of a 31-year-old junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, psychologists and feminist organisations have spoken about the need for a change in mindset and attitude that stereotypes women or men, and this has to be done in school and at home.

Often, very casual conversations in schools can be “gender biased” and teachers have to intervene or it goes unnoticed by children, said teachers.

For example, during a class activity in a school, a couple of boys said “girls cannot shift desks”.

“We have to be alert to such statements, pause what we are doing, address this and make space for bigger conversations that challenge gender stereotyping. There are some pre-conceived notions about gender which have to be addressed and we are doing that,” said Pratima Nayar, principal, junior school, Calcutta International School.

The school recently had trials for a junior school girls’ football team and only six turned up.

The school then wrote to the parents, requesting them to encourage their daughters to participate in the trials to help the school form a girls’ team.

Addressing parents is equally important because often there are inconsistencies between what children are being taught in school and what they see at home.

“If an adult man is not respecting women, then the adolescent or teenage girl or boy will not understand what equality means,” said Koeli Dey, principal, Sushila Birla Girls’ School.

At a coffee table meet with parents held recently, the school talked about molestation and also gender discrimination and stereotyping.

Rape is not just when a body is defiled but it is the mind as well, said Dey.

Psychotherapist Farishta Dastur Mukerji said the RG Kar incident has “bypassed biological differences” of being a man and a woman and it is about a sense of “deep-seated anxiety and a feeling of being unsafe”, which is not gender specific.

“Most women face some form of harassment, and it is high time we acknowledge this. The fact that so many people are coming out in protest is because they either identified with it or were triggered by it,” Mukerji said.

She said the role of schools should be to have conversations about body safety, boundaries and consent as a constant process.

“Schools should not shy away from these conversations and typecast them as uncomfortable. It is the adults’ uneasiness that stops them from having these conversations,” she said.

Julien Day School Kalyani at a meeting decided to make gender sensitisation part of their value education classes.

“Gender sensitisation has to begin from Class III and has to be done periodically and not once in a while. We will make it part of our value education classes,” said Terence John, director of education and development, Julien Day Group of Schools.

“We have told our teachers that among students there should be zero tolerance to bullying or sexual remarks about one another. Sometimes boys become explicitin their description of girls amongst themselves. We cannot turn a deaf ear to this,” he said.

Mental health activist and feminist Ratnaboli Ray said schools can begin to look at the curriculum.

“Children growing up should be familiarised with an understanding of gender, not just in the biological sense, and they should be made to understand boundaries. Understanding boundaries or setting limits has been blurred or been a grey area for many years,” she said.

There have to be boundaries in relationships,workspaces and in the way we bring up children, too, she said.