Course: EDUC 5420-01 Adolescent Development - AY2025-T5

Portfolio Activity

UNIT: 2
Submitted by: Uttiya Sarkar
Instructor: Tonya Tate

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Portfolio Assignment: Navigating Puberty in the Indian Classroom – A Personal and
Professional Reflection

Growing up in a remote village in Jamtara, Jharkhand, I had little knowledge of what

puberty meant. Conversations around bodily changes were laced with silence,
awkwardness, or shame. Nobody spoke of the confusion that came with hair growth,
emotional turbulence, or sexual curiosity. As a boy navigating adolescence in rural India,
my understanding of gender roles, emotional regulation, and identity came not from
formal lessons but from overheard whispers and cultural myths. Decades later, as an
educator mentoring adolescents in B. Tech classrooms and teacher training institutes
across West Bengal, I see the same silence persisting, although the contexts have
changed. The four readings from this unit offered not only validation of what I have
long sensed but also academic tools to analyse, respond to, and support adolescents more
meaningfully. Here, I reflect on four key takeaways from the readings and explain how
they translate into actionable insights within the Indian school system, when viewed
through the lens of lived experiences, caste-gender realities, and institutional neglect.

1. Puberty Suppression and Gender Dysphoria: A Case for Compassion in the

Indian Classroom

From the reading by de Vries et al. (2011), the most striking takeaway is the
documented psychological relief adolescents experience when puberty suppression is
provided as an option in cases of gender dysphoria. This concept is nearly alien to the
Indian educational context, where even discussing gender identity is often taboo. Yet, as
a teacher in both co-ed and engineering institutes, I have encountered students whose
discomfort with their bodies was evident, not through words but through withdrawal,
underperformance, and anxiety. One such student, Karan (name changed), avoided sports
classes and was often mocked for his effeminate voice. At the time, I did not possess
the vocabulary or training to understand that he might have been experiencing gender
dysphoria. This study made me realize that if given a supportive environment and timely
intervention, students like Karan could thrive rather than hide. While India may still be
far from institutionalizing puberty blockers in schools, teachers can create emotional
safety nets, gender-neutral restrooms, sensitivity circles, and inclusive language that affirm
identity instead of enforcing conformity.

2. Early or Late Pubertal Timing and Mental Health: Breaking the Silence Around
Timing

The study by Graber et al. (2004) resonated deeply with my own adolescence. I was a
late bloomer. While my classmates in high school had already begun showing facial hair
and deeper voices, I remained childlike in frame and speech. That delay came with cruel
jokes, loss of confidence, and an internalized fear that something was wrong with me.
The study’s argument, that early or delayed puberty correlates with long-term mental
health challenges, provides a lens to analyse this overlooked pain. In my classrooms
today, I see this play out repeatedly. A girl who begins menstruating early often
becomes the subject of gossip. A boy whose voice cracks mid-presentation is ridiculed

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by peers. Teachers either dismiss these episodes or remain complicit through silence.
This research reminds me that we must institutionalize puberty education as part of our
Life Skills or Health classes in Indian schools. I now hold monthly adolescent awareness
workshops, where body diversity, emotional shifts, and peer empathy are openly
discussed. My role, I have come to realize, is to replace shame with understanding and
fear with information.

3. Migration, Nutrition, and the Changing Face of Puberty in Urban India

Parent et al. (2003) presented a global view of how migration, diet, and urbanization
influence pubertal onset. What struck me was how closely this map onto what I witness
in Kolkata’s classrooms. Many of my students have migrated from rural belts of
Jharkhand or Bihar to urban centres. A shift from traditional diets to processed urban
food, combined with limited physical activity and higher exposure to endocrine-disrupting
chemicals, is causing a visible acceleration in puberty, particularly among girls. One
student, Ritika, began menstruating in Grade 5. Her parents, unaware of the changes and
caught in the whirlwind of urban survival, did not know how to prepare her emotionally.
She started skipping school. Teachers thought she was ‘lazy.’ But the truth was far
deeper: she was terrified, confused, and shamed by her changing body. The reading
made me reflect on how urbanization is silently reshaping adolescent timelines and how
our institutions have failed to keep pace. In my efforts to bridge this gap, I have
integrated parental awareness sessions and have invited community health workers to
speak about early puberty, hygiene, and nutrition. These dialogues, however
uncomfortable at first, have proven essential. We must remember that in India,
adolescence does not happen in isolation, it happens in joint families, one-room houses,
and overburdened schools.

4. Hormonal Changes and Adolescent Brain: Designing Classrooms That Match the
Brain’s Rhythm

Sisk and Zehr (2005) provided a fascinating biological framework to explain adolescent
behaviour. Hormones, testosterone and oestrogen, don’t just change bodies, they
restructure the brain’s architecture, making adolescents more prone to risk-taking,
emotional swings, and novelty-seeking behaviour. This scientific insight transformed how
I view classroom ‘discipline issues.’ Earlier in my career, I often reprimanded students
for talking too much, shifting in their seats, or reacting impulsively. But now, I see
these as neurological invitations, to stimulate, to engage, to challenge. I recall designing
a lesson on Shakespeare’s Macbeth where students enacted Lady Macbeth’s descent into
guilt through improvised dialogue. The result? Full participation, peer bonding, and even
shy students speaking up. When we align our pedagogy with what the brain craves,
interaction, movement, autonomy, we not only teach better but reach better. This reading
taught me that adolescent behaviour is not defiance, it is development in motion. Our
response as educators must not be punishment, but design: structured novelty, reflection
circles, and purposeful risks like peer teaching or creative assessments.

Listening to the Unspoken in Indian Adolescents

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Across all four readings, one truth stood out for me: adolescence is a storm of changes,
some visible, many internal. In India, where discussions about puberty are cloaked in
silence and stigma, the adolescent child often suffers in solitude. From delayed puberty
to early menstruation, from gender dysphoria to risk-seeking behaviours, our students
carry burdens far heavier than their backpacks. As educators, it is not enough to
complete the syllabus, we must decode the silences, read the discomfort in their eyes,
and step in as guides, not gatekeepers. My role today is not just that of an English
teacher or [Link]. candidate, it is that of a co-traveller. These readings have not only
informed my academic journey but reignited my emotional mission: to make classrooms
kinder, more curious, and more attuned to the adolescent journey. Whether in a dusty
village in Jamtara or a tech-savvy campus in Kolkata, the biology of growing up is
universal. But the way we respond to it must be deeply local, compassionate, and
context-aware.

References

de Vries, A. L. C., Steensma, T. D., Doreleijers, T. A. H., & Cohen‐Kettenis, P. T. (2011).

Puberty suppression in adolescents with gender identity disorder: A prospective follow‐up study.
The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 8(8), 2276–2283. [Link]
6109.2010.01943.x

Graber, J. A., Seeley, J. R., Brooks‐Gunn, J., & Lewinsohn, P. M. (2004). Is pubertal timing
associated with psychopathology in young adulthood? Journal of the American Academy of
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 43(6), 718–726. [Link]
%203000/Adolescent%20Risk%20taking/Lectures/3-4%20Biological/Biology%20II/Garber
%20et%20al.,%20(2004).pdf

Parent, A. S., Teilmann, G., Juul, A., Skakkebaek, N. E., Toppari, J., & Bourguignon, J. P.
(2003). The timing of normal puberty and the age limits of sexual precocity: Variations around
the world, secular trends, and changes after migration. Endocrine Reviews, 24(5), 668–693.
[Link]

Sisk, C. L., & Zehr, J. L. (2005). Pubertal hormones organize the adolescent brain and behaviour.
Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 26(3–4), 163–174. [Link]