After Delhi University’s move to introduce third-gender option, activists in Madurai are planning to approach educational institutions to open the doors for transgender students.
Bharathi Kannamma, founder of Bharathi Kannamma Trust that works for transgender welfare, said on Saturday that she would soon approach the Madurai Kamaraj University to introduce the third gender option in its application forms.
Annamalai University (AU) in Chidambaram was probably the only institution in Tamil Nadu which had the third gender option, she said.
Confirming this, C. Subramanian, Associate Professor of Political Science in Annamalai University, told The Hindu that the university had introduced the option in April 2013 even prior to the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in April this year recognising transgender people as “third gender.”
However, the only student to utilise the option was Gunavathy from Dindigul.
“Most transgender people are abandoned by their families and denied financial support. This is one of the main reasons for many transgender students keeping their identity a secret,” said Gunavathy, an MA English graduate, who is currently pursuing Master of Social Work through distance mode in AU.
“It was quite difficult for me to make my family accept who I am. I undertook part-time jobs to pay tuition fee and also took one year break from studies because of financial constraints,” she added.
Madurai had nearly 150 transgender students but only a couple of them revealed their gender identity.
The others kept it a secret fearing backlash from society and their families, claimed Ms. Kannamma.
“Giving priority to transgender students based on their educational qualification and initiatives to attract them to higher studies might change the mindset of families,” she noted.
Ms. Gunavathy insisted that the government should provide free and compulsory education for transgender students to help them overcome poverty and prevent them from going the wrong way.
“Without support from the government financially and in employment, not many transgender students will come forward to reveal their gender identity and the third gender option may not be utilised effectively,” she contended.
