Creating Schools That Are Safe for Every Child

By [Author name, credentials needed] · Reviewed for School of Educators

Key facts

• Transgender and gender-non-conforming students face significant risks in Indian schools, including harassment, exclusion, and in some cases forced dropout.
• India’s Supreme Court recognised transgender persons’ right to self-identified gender in the 2014 NALSA judgment, a legal foundation schools are still catching up to in practice.
• Research on supportive school environments shows specific, practical actions teachers can take, rather than leaving safety to general goodwill or informal tolerance.
• NEP 2020, NCF 2023, and the NIPUN Bharat foundational literacy mission all point toward inclusive school environments as a basic safety standard, not an optional accommodation.
• Support and reporting: KIRAN mental health helpline (1800-599-0019), Tele-MANAS (14416), CHILDLINE (1098) for any concern involving a minor’s safety.

Transgender and gender-non-conforming students face significant risks in Indian schools: harassment, exclusion, and in some cases forced dropout. Research on supportive school environments shows specific, practical actions teachers can take, actions considerably more concrete than the general instruction to “be accepting” that most schools offer with no further guidance.

What the research actually says

Indian teachers already sense that the research on inclusive school safety is more specific and more useful than most professional development programmes suggest; it just rarely gets said aloud in a staffroom. The evidence here draws on ASER survey data, Azim Premji Foundation field studies, NCERT curriculum research, government programme evaluations, and peer-reviewed work conducted in urban schools with gender-diverse student populations. Where international evidence is used elsewhere in this field, it needs to be flagged explicitly and checked against Indian classroom conditions before it is applied here, particularly given how much less Indian-specific research exists compared with the broader classroom research this essay series otherwise draws on.

This is not an essay about education in Singapore or Finland, translated awkwardly into an Indian setting. It is written for teachers across every subject and stage, because the safety risks this essay addresses cut across the whole school environment, not one classroom or one role.

A teacher who genuinely cares can still make a problem worse by misunderstanding its mechanism. Understanding the mechanism is what turns sincere care into effective care.

Good intentions are not sufficient on their own. A teacher who responds to harassment of a gender-non-conforming student with a general reminder to “be kind to everyone,” out of a genuine wish to address it without singling anyone out, can leave the specific behaviour unaddressed and the targeted student without any visible sign that the school will actually act. Vague appeals to kindness rarely change behaviour that specific, consistent enforcement does.

Five practical actions for creating a safer school environment

Five practical actions recur across the research on supportive school environments for gender-diverse students, and each is something a teacher can act on directly.

1. Use a student’s chosen name and pronouns consistently. Getting this right, and correcting yourself calmly and without fuss when you get it wrong, is one of the most concrete, immediate signals of respect available to a teacher, and research on gender-diverse student wellbeing consistently identifies it as protective.

2. Address harassment immediately and consistently, every time. Inconsistent enforcement, addressing an incident sometimes but letting comments slide other times, teaches students that the rule is negotiable. Clear, calm, and consistent response to harassment, every time it happens, is what actually changes classroom norms, not an occasional reminder about kindness in general.

3. Protect a student’s privacy about their gender identity. A student’s gender identity or transition status is hers to share, with whoever she chooses, on her own timeline; a teacher sharing that information with other staff, students, or family without the student’s explicit permission removes her control over her own safety and can expose her to real risk.

4. Address practical logistics thoughtfully, not as an afterthought. Uniform requirements, bathroom access, and changing arrangements for physical education are concrete daily situations where a lack of planning creates daily friction and exposure for a gender-diverse student. Working out a reasonable, respectful arrangement in advance, rather than improvising under pressure in the moment, reduces both the student’s daily stress and the likelihood of a public incident.

5. Build a known, trusted referral pathway. A student needs to know which specific adult in the school she can go to if something goes wrong, rather than hoping any teacher happens to respond well. Identifying and communicating that pathway, a specific counsellor, a specific point of contact, gives a student a concrete resource rather than a general sense that the school probably cares.

Where this fits Indian education policy

NEP 2020, NCF 2023, and the NIPUN Bharat mission all point in the direction this research supports, and the 2014 NALSA judgment already establishes the legal foundation: transgender and gender-non-conforming students have a right to safety and self-identified gender that schools are still working to translate into everyday practice. The gap between that legal and policy foundation and what actually happens on a Tuesday morning, a student facing harassment with no clear, consistent response from the school, is the space this piece is trying to close. It is not an argument for a new policy. It is guidance for the teacher who already has a gender-diverse student in her class or school, deciding what to do differently starting now.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most immediate, concrete thing a teacher can do to make a gender-diverse student feel safer? Consistently using her chosen name and pronouns, and correcting yourself calmly rather than making a mistake into a bigger moment, is one of the simplest and most immediately available actions, and research consistently identifies it as protective.

What should a teacher do if she witnesses harassment of a gender-diverse student? Address it immediately and consistently, the same way every time, rather than treating it as a one-off to smooth over quietly. Inconsistent response teaches students, both the target and the ones harassing her, that the behaviour is only sometimes unacceptable.

Is it appropriate to tell other staff or a student’s family about a student’s gender identity without her knowledge? No. A student’s gender identity is hers to disclose, on her own timeline and to whoever she chooses; sharing it without her explicit permission removes her control over her own safety and can put her at real risk, even when the person sharing it means well.

Where can a teacher find support or state-specific material on this? Start with your SCERT or DIET for NIPUN Bharat FLN assessment tools, NCERT’s teacher guides, and Azim Premji Foundation’s open-access publications. For direct support or to report a concern involving a minor’s safety: KIRAN (1800-599-0019), Tele-MANAS (14416), and CHILDLINE (1098).

What to do:

• Name one child in your school who may be affected by how gender-diverse students are currently supported, and write down one specific action from above you will take this week. Not a general improvement: a named action for a named child.
• Search DIKSHA or ask your Block Resource Coordinator for any resource specific to this topic in your state’s context. If nothing exists, note that and report it. The gap in resources is itself useful information.
• Spend five minutes this week just observing one aspect of your school environment related to this, not managing it, just watching and noting. What you notice while only watching is different from what you notice while teaching.
• Tell one colleague one specific finding from this piece this week. Explaining it will sharpen your own understanding, and it may start a conversation that helps more than any single action.
• At the end of the week, ask yourself what you will do differently next week because of this, and what you will look for to know whether it worked.

Support resources for teachers: NIPUN Bharat FLN assessment tools (via your SCERT or DIET), NCERT teacher guides, Azim Premji Foundation open-access research, DIKSHA (36 languages), KIRAN mental health helpline (1800-599-0019), Tele-MANAS (14416), CHILDLINE (1098).