QCOSTARICA – Education Minister Sonia Marta Mora made an unscheduled trip to San Carlos Friday where she personally tried to untangle a probably unprecedented situation and possible miscommunication: A trans-gender boy was allegedly expelled from school and told not to come back until he cut his hair and stopped wearing tight pants.
The leader of the Diversity Movement Marco Castillo charged that this was a blatant case of sexual discrimination and that the student at the high school has a hearing problem as well.
High school principal Jose Jaoquin Sanchez welcomed the chat with the Minister because it is an unusual case.
But Sanchez characterized the whole situation as a misunderstanding blown out of proportion. The student, the principal says, was in a special class for deaf students. Sanchez said that, yes, the school does have a dress code but students can’t be forced to recognise it and at no time was the student expelled.
The school principal said that he felt that the student may have stayed home from classes because he was uncomfortable and that Friday he talked with the parents and the boy will return to the eighth grade classes Monday.
After chatting with Sanchez, Mora said that special care should be taken when treating a person with hearing problems.
Mora promised that a specialist assigned to the Student Rights section of the ministry would follow the student’s progress and a specialist in sexual diversity would talk with the student.
(Via iNews.co.cr)
