Thiruvananthapuram: The Social Justice Department of Kerala has proposed a landmark idea on the inclusion of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) in the curriculum of students and teachers.
Minister for Social Justice, R Bindu, said in a press release that the departments of higher education and general education have been notified about the possibility of including the subject in the curriculum. Bindu is also the minister of higher education in the State.
The decision was announced following a special meeting convened late last week in the wake of the suicide of transgender activist Anannyah Kumari Alex allegedly depressed as a result of complications from a sex reassignment surgery.
Widespread protests were taken out by the LGBTQ community in the State after Anannyah was found hanging in a flat in Kochi last Tuesday.
The members of the community had alleged medical negligence on the part of a private hospital in Ernakulam that prompted various government departments, including the State police, to launch probes.
The post-mortem report on Anannyah's death had revealed unhealed wounds on her private parts. Two days later, her live-in partner Jiju was also found dead at a flat in the city.
In the light of the tragic incidents, the Social Justice Department has constituted a special committee to look into matters of legal and medical services concerning the transgender community.
The committee that will be coordinated by the social justice director has been asked to formulate a set of guidelines and study the steps to be taken for providing sex reassignment surgeries and other healthcare for transgender persons in the State.
The director of the department has also been asked to look into the possibility of including transgender people in the government's health insurance scheme, besides prioritizing them in the State's housing programme.
