As an increasing number of young South Africans reveal that their gender identities differ from their sex at birth, schools are learning about the challenges these students face, writes the BBC’s Mohammed Allie from Cape Town. Three years ago, Alex* transitioned from a boy to a girl. Now eight years old, she wears her blonde hair long and feels at ease among her classmates at a primary school in a leafy Cape Town suburb. “My friends are really nice,” she says, even if some children in another class “don’t really understand and act a bit mean”.