New Delhi woke up to a chilly day on February 3. A heavy blanket of fog covered the atmosphere in a ghostly cloud, and the air was crisp and cutting. In the middle of this wintry scene, where teachers hurriedly took an outside tour on the weekend, their buildings stood strong against the cloudy breeze.
Traditions and customs in India shine like pearls everywhere. In a remote area where outdated views frequently hold powerful, Tagore International School in South Delhi is a unique place where something beautiful is taking place. The college is becoming the pillar of diversity.
The Washington Blade visited the school and talked to the individuals, committee members, and its task consultant.
While talking to the Blade, Vaanya Kalra, a 12th-grade student at the school, said her parents are understanding and friendly. Vaanya, with a smile on her face, said she had complete access to the internet when she was younger. In her class, she was the target of a campaign called Breaking Barriers that aims to promote and increase awareness about LGBTQ+ rights at the time.
“Breaking Barriers has existed for the past 10 years at my college, and I kind of always wanted to join it,” said Vaanya. “I did when I had the chance to visit it,” she said.
Vaanya opened up about her trip and claimed that people were reacting differently to those who were different, with a mix of grief and frustration in her eyes. Vaanya, who has always been a compassionate person, saw unnecessary anger online for sex and sexuality, and it became difficult for her to disregard it. She exclaimed with excitement that she had the time, the power, and emotion needed to enroll in Breaking Barriers at her school.
Before joining the plan, Vaanya revealed to the Blade that she had the conversation with her friends and family. Her home was accepting of all. She boldly admitted that she enjoyed the experience she had while working for the LGBTQ+ group in her school and advocating for it in other institutions. Vaanya stated that she is considering pursuing further education in foreign connections.
Vaanya expressed her deep regret to an American media outlet while speaking to the Blade about accusing people of “brainwashing children.” She claimed that when she went online to discuss Breaking Barriers actions, a group of people took over the system and expressed their disapproval of the battle.
“It was a very tough journey,” said Vaanya.
Shivanee Sen, a pupil development advisor for Tagore International School, emailed from New York to discuss the history of the campaign.
She claimed that Shivanee chose to join the party because Safina Ameen and Sohini Chakrabarti were scholar leaders and that they had participated in the South Asia contest for having a diverse cultural history. Sohini, Safina, and Shivanee, at their young time, sat up and decided to work in the female area. While the discourse was taking place, Shivanee suggested working in the field of sex and gender, and the other two graciously agreed to do so.
Shivanee stated that the group discussion’s primary goal was to address the issue of women’s rights, but her goal was to address the issue of various groups in India who experience discrimination. Shivanee’s thought led the group of three younger women to work on LGBTQ+ rights in India. Sohini and Safina’s kids requested their permission before Shivanee sent them home, which they thankfully received. The party then began focusing on LGBTQ+ freedom in schools.
Sohini, one of Breaking Barriers’ owners, said that there was an administrative vacuum around this narrative region across schools in India.
“These things aren’t being discussed in classrooms,” he said. I was likewise 13 years old when we began. But as a young child who was trained by experts from Organizations, and because we were working on gender right at the same time, I was talking to individuals older than I was and educators about sexuality, which was a bit strange and jarring to some people because it was a crucial part of a school-wide campaign on this theme,” said Siddhi Pal, one of Breaking Barriers’ original people. “Our work was labeled as criminal, illegal, and brainwashing, so it was really difficult for us to take the campaign to different schools. Those kinds of things were a huge barrier, but apart from that, we were so onboard. We persevered and made it work. However, subject mattered the most to me ten years ago because we were all children.
Shivanee responded to what kind of opposition the campaign received from the parents, explaining that all participants had parental consent before joining. Additionally, Shivanee added that in the past ten years, her Breaking Barriers initiative to help the LGBTQ+ community at schools has hardly ever faced parental opposition.
“I am quite surprised that in the past 10 years we haven’t really had parental pushback,” she said. No parent has taken it upon themselves to try to stop the workshops happening at school, though they might not be okay with their kids joining the campaign.
Vaanya expressed concern about how an Indian news outlet published a homophobic article about the organization Breaking Barriers and Tagore International School, saying with absolute certainty that when negative information about the campaign and its members is published, that indicates that the campaign is making a change.
Siddhi, who is based in London, said the main reason for support is when new students enroll annually. They see what their peers are up to, which further fueled the campaign.
People actually aspire to join the campaign as they advance to more leadership positions, according to Sohini. It’s interesting to see because it was difficult to begin it off and there were a lot of difficulties in the beginning. “To keep it going has been easier because every year more students come in and there is more and more information about the campaign,” says one participant. So, to keep it going has been really amazing.
Priyanka Randhawa, project coordinator for Tagore International School, explained to the Blade that the organization chooses the office holders from the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelveth grades; its president or vice president typically hails from the older classes, but any students who are interested can join it. The school’s Breaking Barriers team is organizing training for students at other schools as well.
“We go to other schools and take up sensitive issues with them”, said Randhawa. We discuss the definition of “Breaking Barriers,” explain terminology in other schools, share transgender stories, and touch on emotional topics during the workshop.
These workshops are only intended for high school students. We also do workshops for educators for sensitization, added Randhawa. “We have also collaborated with NGOs like Naz Foundation, they train our students and sensitize on LGBTQ community”.
According to Priyanka, the campaign encourages other schools to form their own Breaking Barriers organizations.
Jiya Chawla, a student at the and member of Breaking Barriers, told the Blade in New Delhi that she, along with Vaanya, joined the campaign four years ago.
“We have been to multiple schools. At least 20 schools offline and online we have been to more than 40 schools”, said Jiya. We were confronted with questions from a trans or homophobic point of view. But we never replied, “You are wrong. We always take our time and make an effort to comprehend where they are coming from. We try to break that stigma. We are aware that one session cannot be enough to dispel generational prejudices, so we do occasionally face a lot of backlash, but social media has really helped us right now. since everyone is already aware of the purpose of this community. So now, we don’t have to explain what the community is, but why equality is important”.
Sohini told the Blade that she anticipated the backlash and when she was campaigning for the LGBTQ+ community at Tagore International School in New Delhi regarding the issue of changing behavior outside the Breaking Barriers. Her parents eschewed doing a presentation for them, which she unintentionally accepted.
“It is a taboo topic, people don’t want to engage with you. However, I was surprised by the curiosity of those around me,” Siddhi said with a big smile on her face. “My parents, once were like oh you are going around, doing this presentation, so why don’t you do it for us? Because you sit down with your parents and go through talking about sex and sexuality, I believe that was one of the most difficult initial presentations I’ve ever given.
“It was really surprising in the beginning, even when we started doing presentations for teachers, I think teachers had a lot more questions than students in the beginning”, she added. There are people who do not want to engage at all, but my friends and family were more likely to do it.
A 15-year-old student at in 2022 died by suicide after being bullied for his sexuality at school. The administration did not take any action, even though his mother filed a complaint.
Vaanya argued that ensuring students’ safety at school is essential in order to adequately address these concerns. She claimed that teachers and administrators were very encouraging.
Ensuring kids that it’s okay to feel different, it’s okay for you to have a different sexuality or act differently is very important. People have understood that they are not required to bully other people for it, and that they are not required to hate other people for it, Vaanya said. No one is actively bullying or hating someone for this, according to the saying. We also have a very strict anti-bullying policy, which allows us to create a safe haven for everyone.
Reporters from Iran, India, and Singapore have covered a lot of topics for the Washington and Los Angeles Blades. He most recently made a report for The Daily Beast. At (508) 686-7710. He is on Twitter at @mohitkopinion.
