NOT 'TOO YOUNG TO UNDERSTAND'

Ina country squeamish about sex education, two private schools have bravely started and protected LGBTQIA+ support groups.

- R Radhika

Nishu* remembers the exhaustion. Every day, they would. return from school, absolutely spent from pretending to be a boy for hours. "I hated the games period. Boys used to wrestle and josh around while they made fun of me for being effeminate. I was absolutely isolated most of my school life," they said.

Not just at school, every-day ridicule in their joint-family forced Nishu to escape Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, to Delhi for higher education. "It was like a breath of fresh air to join a formal institution and still be able to express your sexuality openly, away from home."

While Nishu found an escape, the trauma of mockery and stigmatisation at school continues to affect the LGBTQIA+ community, which includes those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual. transgender, queer, intersex or asexual.

Identifying the need for reform, two private schools in India are spearheading the cause not by just educating children about the community but also supporting those who are part of it. High school students of Tagore International School, Delhi and Calcutta International School in Kolkata, West Bengal are breaking taboos around LGBTQIA+ discussions, setting up support groups on campus.

TIS's support group-Breaking Barriers started in 2013 and has been addressing the problems stereotyping and prejudices from a very young age. Jiya Chawla joined it as a 13-year-old and has been an active ally.