3rd gender students get major leg-up in east Indian State

KOLKATA, April 20: This year, transgender students will for the first time sit for a common examination held every year for admission to government-run medical and engineering colleges in India’s Bengal state, authorities said.
This became possible after the board overseeing the exams created a new gender category in the 2016 online application form – “third gender” – in addition to the usual “male” and “female” categories.Board Chairman Sajal Dasgupta said two transgender students – both Muslims – have taken advantage of the new offering; one will take the test for medical colleges and the other for both.”What is very significant is that they are Muslims,” Dasgupta told reporters. Moreover, both are from the state’s interiors.
The National Informatics Centre, under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, advised the board to add the “third gender” category while guiding it in designing the online application form, Dasgupta said.
In May last year, the University Grants Commission, the apex body for overseeing higher education in India, asked varsities to create provision for the transgender community in application forms.
Bengal’s education sector was among the first to take a proactive step in embracing the third gender.
In fact, it went one step further, appointing a transgender as the principal of a girls’ college. Plus, Rabindra Bharati, a Kolkata-based university, also began admitting third gender students.-Agencies