Trans teacher sacked by Indian school says she was called ‘eunuch’ by student and harassed by staff

Jane Kaushik was asked to resign from her school within a week of joining. She tells Rituparna Chatterjee she was asked to keep her gender identity secret and let go after children found out

Jane Kaushik was asked to resign from her school within a week of joining (Jane Kaushik)

When Jane Kaushik, a trans woman, got a job as a trained graduate teacher (TGT) in a private school in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in November, she was thankful for the opportunity after years of rejection because of her gender identity.

She went through several rounds of the selection process, including interviews and calls with the managing director of Uma Devi Children’s Academy, and got her appointment letter on 22 November confirming her position to teach English and Social Sciences. She had not revealed her gender identity during the recruitment process, based on her past experiences.

But at the time of filling out the forms at the school’s campus at UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri, she explained that she had all the documents ascertaining her trans identity, namely a gazetted notification indicating name and gender change, and trans and medical certificates, among other things. The school seemingly had no problems but proposed one condition – that she keep her gender identity private, Kaushik tells The Independent.

Kaushik was desperate for work. “Previously every time recruiters took a look at my previous name [dead name] in my certificates, they’d ask me for an explanation and were not ready to hire me,” Kaushik says. “They’d say they might face objections from parents and students because it was a ‘sensitive’ issue. I was depressed and disappointed,” she says.

(Jane Kaushik)

On her first day at Uma Devi Children’s Academy, she said she overheard two boys passing her by. One of them allegedly commented, “kaise hijra khada hai (see there’s a eunuch)”. She called them over and tried to sensitise them. “I told them that there’s a reason why they’ve been enrolled in school and given an education and not to speak to people in this way,” she says.

Kaushik mentions that soon after that at the general mess (canteen) a teacher commented about her “size”.

“I can hide my gender identity but how do I hide my body structure? The teacher said ‘your size and your plate’s size does not match’, body shaming me. When I complained to the school they said why are these things only happening with you? Maybe because I am the only trans teacher here?”

The school’s managing director Sunny Gupta says the allegations of discrimination are baseless. “I know about the mess incident. Let me clarify. It was simply banter – the teacher cracked a joke – ‘how’re you going to eat on such a small plate?’ But nevertheless the school took up the incident very seriously and the teacher was warned not to further make such comments,” Gupta says, while also arguing that Kaushik’s complaints about discrimination have no merit.

“Why would the school ask her to hide her identity? How is gender relevant to what talent someone has as a teacher? All the school cares about is what skill a teacher has, not their gender. When we got to know her gender, we did not pose any objection. Why would we wait seven days to fire her?”

Kaushik speaks about yet another incident where she was advised to “get her own vehicle” instead of using the van the school allotted for pick up and drop, presumably, again, because of her “size”. Things escalated when she sought out her fellow teachers to borrow a charger and they refused. “The staff saw me as an alien. They rarely spoke to me. I started crying,” she says, speaking of a sense of isolation.

She said she got to know that a teacher allegedly asked a girl student how “she behaved with them at the girls’ hostel” where she was given accommodation. She raised the issue with the management. “What business is it of any teacher unrelated to the women’s hostel to ask how I behave with students at the hostel?” she says.

(Jane Kaushik)

Things came to a head when a student came to know of her gender identity and she was called to the principal’s office and asked to resign. “I begged her [principal Pushpa Gupta] to let me stay, but I was let go. And I was asked to vacate the hostel.”

She says she had to take a bus at 8.30pm from Mohammadi Kheri, a small town in Lakhimpur Kheri district. “At night when I boarded the bus, there was not a single woman on it.” She asked the school to give her in writing the cause for termination. When two days later she did not get the mail, she contacted the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) whose representative contacted the local police station.

“By the evening the school sent me the mail, but showed cause that I was not a competent teacher,” Kaushik, who has a masters and a bachelor of education degrees, says. “In one week they evaluated whether I am competent or not, after taking several rounds of interviews?”

Her family are upset and feel this should not have happened, she says.

Jane Kaushik’s resignation letter (Jane Kaushik)

Gupta says an apology is “out of question as the school did not discriminate against her in any way”.

India has an estimated population of 2 million trans people and even though there have been sustained government campaigns to sensitise people, discrimination and extortion is rampant, with a majority of trans people eking out a living through begging. Those who do manage to find familial support and higher education, struggle to find employment opportunities as perceptions about the community remain shrouded in suspicion and mistrust.

Devika Devendra S Manglamukhi, the state executive member-adviser of the Uttar Pradesh Transgender Welfare Board, and a trans person herself, says she will “need to check both sides and speak to the school before she can comment”.

“What we need to understand is whether Jane Kaushik mentioned her gender identity to the school’s governing body at the time of recruitment. Because if she had been hired as a trans person, and sacked because of her identity, then it’s definitely discriminatory,” she says.

“See our objective is not to punish or haul up, the long-term goal is to sensitise and create awareness. How many can you haul up for making crass comments as we pass by or shame us for our gender identity? In the end, creating a sensitive environment is what we aim for,” she says.

“A school should only look at talent and not at gender when hiring, what does it matter what identity a person has? Isn’t it a pride for a school’s diversity and inclusion to have a trans teacher?” says Manglamukhi, who says she was the first trans woman doctorate in English literature from Delhi University.

After Kaushik’s case made headlines in national Indian media, the federal National Commission for Women said on Thursday that it had contacted the Uttar Pradesh government calling for an independent investigation to be opened into her dismissal.

The school argues that the main reason for Kaushik’s sacking was that she lacked the necessary competency to teach social sciences.

“During your service period with us we found you facing challenges every day with the main subject. Since we require a major social science teacher and board classes are to be allocated, we can’t take risk, so we are relieving you from this post and would love you see you back in the school once we require core English language teacher,” according to her relieving letter.

Gupta says Kaushik’s command of English was above par. “I’ve clearly conveyed to her that when we require an English teacher, she’ll be the first one we’ll call,” he says.

He suggests Kaushik’s complaint could be because “she wants her job back, or because of past trauma she might be feeling that everyone is treating her in the same way as she has been treated in the past. And she could be judging everyone on the same grounds”.

“She is a wonderful English teacher, I’ve told her this personally, she has grit, her gender wasn’t a factor at all for us. She did not reveal her gender identity at the time of her hiring,” he says.

Kaushik now plans to file a police complaint against the school for discrimination and says she will fight for her right to employment.