In a recent development, the preeminent body safeguarding children’s rights, NCPCR, has dispatched a notification to the educational authorities of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana regarding the employment of the term “non-binary” in a query related to gender posed by the Shiv Nadar schools situated in Delhi-NCR.

Responding to this, the school conveyed, “At present, we lack awareness of any such notification; hence, we are unable to provide any commentary.” In its notification to the Secretary of Haryana’s Directorate of School Education and the principal secretary of Uttar Pradesh for the Shiv Nadar schools in Delhi-NCR, the NCPCR stated that it has received a grievance concerning the use of inappropriate terminology by these educational institutions in reference to a child’s gender.

“As emphasized in the grievance, the school, within its Parent’s Feedback Survey, presents a query about the child’s gender. The alternatives provided are Female, Male, and Non-binary. It is worth noting that the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 defines and employs the term ‘transgender,'” elucidated the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in the communication.

The notification further pointed out that the National Education Policy (NEP) exclusively mentions transgender children/students and refrains from utilizing any alternative term. Accordingly, the NCPCR has instructed the state governments to guarantee the exclusion of such terminology from any school communication that does not adhere to the NEP and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.