Teacher fired for being 'trans woman', UP school denies

The school management has refuted the allegations and said the woman was fired as she was not good at teaching

A school in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district fired a trans woman teacher allegedly after her "gender identity" came to the knowledge of the fellow teachers and students.

The school management, however, rejected the allegations and claimed that the teacher, who had been hired to teach English and Social Science, was found to be lacking in the knowledge of social science.

The Delhi based teacher said that she had been hired by the school last month as a TGT (Trained Graduate Teacher) to teach English and social science after several rounds of interview.

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She also claimed that her gender identity was known to the school management and the latter had asked her not to reveal her gender identity to the fellow teachers and students as it might create problems.

The teacher said that she was sacked after she revealed her gender identity to the other teachers and students. She also said that she had face trolling by some students and employees of the schools as her physical features were 'different' from other women.

She said that she was termed 'hinjra' (eunuch) by some in the school despite her attempts to sensitise the students and others about her gender identity and apprise them about the laws being enacted for the community she hailed from.

She further said, "This was unacceptable to the school administration and I was asked to resign on December 2, only 10 days after I was hired, on the ground that I was not competent enough to teach social science."

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The teacher, who was born a male and later changed her sex through a surgery in a Madhya Pradesh town in 2019, said that she was 'fired' barely ten days for not being able to teach social science though the management acknowledged that she was good in English.

According to her, she was a good teacher and her skills were acknowledged by the students and the principal of the school. However, after the school came to know about her identity, she was not only made to resign but they were also reluctant to give her the relieving letter.

"I then called the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) at 181 for assistance and they advised me to file a complaint with the local police. The DCW also sent local police to the school, after which I received my relieving letter on December 3 via email, saying that I was having difficulty teaching social sciences which was the reason for firing me, while also mentioning that I was good at teaching English."

Refuting all the allegations, Sunny Gupta, managing director of the school, said the teacher was fired due to the difficulty she was facing in the social science subject and not for her orientation.

"She is an excellent English teacher but she does not have in-depth knowledge of social science for which she was primarily hired. She used to prepare a chapter before teaching and had no knowledge about the previous chapters. Since board exams are just three months away, we do not want to put the students' future at stake," he said.

"We did not even know about her identity. We got to know about her transformation later but it does not matter to us. She was hired only after multiple requests as she promised to improve with time. We would love to see her back in school when we require an English teacher. We could also file a defamation case, but we do not want to get into this," he added.

The teacher said, "I demand reinstatement as TGT for social science and an apology from the principal. The administration should also sensitise the staff and senior students about the rights of the transgenders and set up a proper complaint mechanism. I have already filed a petition on Change.org and will take legal action in case the demand is not met."

(With agency inputs)