Queer Affirmative Curriculum and Teaching Pedagogies for Indian Schools

 Suggested Citation: Verma, T. (2021, May 31). Queer Affirmative Curriculum and Teaching Pedagogies for Indian Schools. Queer Academia. URL

Queer Affirmative Curriculum and Teaching Pedagogies for Indian Schools | Teena Verma

Paradoxes are inevitable. In a land where ancient texts like Arthashastra, Manusmriti, and Kamasutra traverse themes of same-sex attraction and behavior, and Hindu scriptures include stories of dieties being born from the union of same-sex gods, for example- “Bhagiratha'' was born from the coupling of two women, and God Ayyappa from the sexual intercourse between the Gods Vishnu and Shiva, it is bewildering to observe atrocities against homosexuals (Conner, Sparks, & Sparks, 1998).  In the domain of queer acceptance, it needs to be acknowledged that some significant feats have indeed been made like the decriminalization of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in 2018 but the fight for equality is still not over as even after three years, the law does not recognize same-sex marriages. India is still an excessively heteronormative and cis-normative country. An interview of students between the age group 18-21, was conducted by the author to highlight the discrimination that the queer community is exposed to. All the interviewees were able to associate a sense of injustice with the way the LGBTQ+ community is treated in India. As one of the interviewees narrated, bringing queer-themed discussions to the dining table turns into a lecture by parents on how their children should stay away from these topics as they might get “polluted”. The stigma attached to the community is conspicuous from cyberspaces in the form of online bullying to domestic spaces wherein parents sow the seeds of hatred against the community in the minds of their children by warning them to stick to hetero/cis-normativity. This abhorrence often transcends from abstract to a very physical form. Police continue to selectively project violence on transgenders and homosexuals. For instance- In July 2020 Kolkata, a 23-year-old gay man was verbally and physically assaulted by two policemen solely on the grounds of his sexuality (Bhattacharjee, 2020). 

 Besides saturating young minds with academic knowledge, schools play an important role in shaping personalities, creating worldviews, developing cognitive abilities, etc. This is echoed in Berson & Oreg’s work The Role of School Principals in Shaping Children’s Values written in 2016. The existing curriculum is dominantly a corpus of texts put together after sieving the heteronormative narrative from the wide spectrum of gender identities and sexual orientations. This compels the students to see the world in only black and white. Thus, they fail to recognize and identify the nuances of gender and sexual representations. The only source left for them is non-restricted internet facilities and media outlets which, a lot of times, propagate false and absurd agendas such as stamping homosexuality as unnatural. For example- In June 2020, Indian politician Subramanian Swamy labeled homosexuality a “genetic flaw” in one of his tweets. Though Bollywood has progressed in creating a queer-inclusive space through movies such as Ek Ladki ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019) and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020), it continues to play a major role in degrading the LGBTQ+ and proliferating homophobia through various tropes such as “the brothel-owning-transgender-villain”, “the-inveterate-gay-man”, “the-cross-dressing-lampoon”, “the-erotic-destructive-lesbian”, “the-predatorial-transgender”, or “cross-dressing-CIS-male” in movies such as Kal Ho Na Ho (2003), Dostana (2008), Humshakals (2014), etc.(Bose, 2018). Thus, queer affirmative teaching practices become a prerequisite for Indian Schools to not only raise awareness but to make students able enough to segregate the acceptable from the unacceptable. 

Kumashiro’s journal Toward a Theory of Anti-Oppressive Education (2000) points out the heteronormative nature of the educational curriculum. The knowledge of “the other” is always veiled from the students because of the hetero/cis-normative nature of the narratives presented to them. In the Indian context, NCERT books solely include stories with heterosexual characters and perpetually associate a sense of ambiguity to queer themes, if any. For students up to the age of 13, the textbooks should predominantly focus on presenting, without any prejudice, the diverse spectrum of genders and sexual identities. These books should be taught to familiarise the students with “the other” that Kumashiro points at. For example- Guthli has Wings by Kanak Shashi makes an effort to segregate one’s true inherent identity from the socially accepted identity one is coerced to adopt, through the story of Guthli, who perpetually asks her mother, “Why do you keep saying I’m a boy when I’m a girl?”.  Friends under the Summer Sun by Ashutosh Pathak and Kanak Shashi feature the story of Nimmi who takes her time to acquaint herself with the feminine side of her friend Akka, a boy (Raman, 2021). The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James by Ashley Herring Blake brings into light the internal conflicts of a girl named Sunny as she goes through the journey of traversing her sexuality.

In India, homosexuality is treated as a disease even after the Indian Psychiatric Society has declared that homosexuality is not an illness (Correspondent, 2018). Thus, teaching the aforementioned books becomes vital. Teaching these books will enable the students to understand that one’s sexuality is not a choice and will help bust the myth that it can be “cured” by attending conversion therapy. LGBTQ+ conversion therapy sessions are often named de-addiction camps as explained by Anjana Harish, a 21-year-old bisexual student who died in May 2020 in one of these camps after heavy intakes of medicines and injections because her parents refused to accept her and believed that she could be cured through this barbaric practice (Kappal, 2020). In an interview with The Quint, Equal Rights Activist, Harish Iyer posed a crucial question “Sexuality is just a variation and is not an aberration. So, what are you trying to convert?” (Ramesh, 2020). More LGBT activists such as Harish Iyer, Sonal Giani, etc. can be called as guest lecturers to elucidate why these conversion camps need to be shut down, educate the students more about the queer community, share their struggles and experiences to validate the emotions of queer students and encourage them to accept and love themselves.

Integrating pop culture with academic textbooks has taken the pedagogical community by storm. Students, especially teenagers spend abundant time scrolling through social media (Macintyre, 2019). However non-supervised Internet access can be a cause of concern. This cyberspace must be acknowledged in classrooms to solicit non-prejudiced supervision from teachers. Furthermore, as pop culture is already accepted with elation and excitement by students, amalgamating this with academic texts will do away with the monotony that some students often find themselves battling with. Queer erasure in mainstream media platforms has become very common now and students should be made aware of this. A majority of teens love watching anime. Instead of watching these just for delight, teachers should assist the students in pointing out the queer nuances in these series. For example- Yuri on Ice by Mappa Studio remains ambiguous about the sexual identities of the main characters. Many anime tend to present homosexuality in a negative light and have tropes of sexual assault within the animes, for instance- World’s Greatest First Love Story, Super Lovers (DeVries, 2018), Given, etc.

These discussions should be brought into classrooms so that the students can identify sexual assault and the importance of consent within the queer space, which is often ignored due to the lack of sex education in Indian schools. Sex Education should be extended beyond the scope of biology books and should raise concerns about real-life problems such as the importance of consent, sexual abuse, marital rape, etc. especially in a country like India where even menstruation is considered taboo (Bajaj, 2018). An article written on Sexual violence by Human Rights Campaign states that according to an estimate by The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects (NCAVP), every one in ten survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) has also been a victim of sexual assault by their partner. Thus, it becomes necessary that Indian Schools can create a comfortable environment where discourses on sexual assault are possible. 

In India, understanding the intricate nuances of gender and sexuality becomes very essential which calls for the need for queer affirmative curriculum and teaching pedagogies for Indian schools. The syllabus should be inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community and should include texts that are queer-friendly and don’t defame the community. Mandatory workshops can be organized by the government for the teachers imparting tips on ways to step beyond the monotonous teaching habits and coalesce pop culture, guest lectures, and mainstream media into daily teaching practices to make learning more conducive and enjoyable. For kids, queer video games such as The Last of Us, Dragon Age, Mass effect, etc (Hector, 2018) should be made available. It is scientifically proven that playing video games augments problem-solving skills, intrigues students about the concept at hand, inculcates leadership qualities, raises the competitive spirit, and enhances creativity (Olson, n.d.). Consequently, it is imperative that the existing curriculum does away with the heteronormative trope and normalizes gender studies to create a queer-friendly space to shape world leaders with better principles and values. 

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Written by: Teena Verma

Reviewed by: Kanav Sahgal, Mohit Dudeja

About the Author: Teena Verma is a student of English Honours at Christ University, Bangalore. She is an Ally and believes in treating everyone with kindness and respect. She loves to spend her leisure time watching anime, k-dramas, and reading books.