Shreshta Kumari, a high school student from a village in Chamba district, changed her sex at the PGIMER in Chandigarh, to become a boy.
Famed British travelogue writer John Morris famously changed her name to Jan Morris after a sex change but an Indian school student in Himachal Pradesh did not find it that easy to follow suit.
The Himachal Pradesh school education board did agree to modify the name but only after much consultation, perhaps because such a request had not been dealt with anywhere in the country before.Shreshta Kumari, a high school student from a village in Chamba district, changed her sex at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, to become a boy.
Shreshta then applied for a change of her name, from Shreshta Kumari to Shreshta Kumar, in her school in Banikhet, about 350 km from here.
Currently studying in Class 12, he requested for certificates in the new name for the previous Class 5, 10 and 11 examinations.
Doctors at the Chandigarh hospital had reportedly issued a certificate to the teenager after the operation.
The puzzled and somewhat panicked Himachal Pradesh education officials first dashed off letters to about 20 state school boards across the country about the strange request and enquired if any of them had dealt with a similar plea.
All the school boards reportedly wrote back saying they had never dealt with such a case but thought the request was genuine and the name should be changed.
Therefore, late last week, a meeting of state education officials was held to grant permission to change the name and issue certificates afresh.
One wonders if Shreshta Kumar will be inspired like Jan Morris to write about her sex change saga.
(Source: IANS)
