New Delhi: Delhi University is trying to reach out to the transgender community through its Transgender Resource Centre, after miserably failing to enrol a single transgender student in its regular courses since the introduction of the “third gender category” in 2015. On 12 June, the centre organised an open sessions to ease out the admission process of transgender students.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Professor Rajesh of Department of Adult and Continuing Education and Extension, who heads the Transgender Resource Centre said, “Around 15 transgender students turned up for interaction at the open session so that an enabling environment can be created.’’
Delhi University introduced the “other” category in its admission forms in 2015 for transgender students. However, the university has failed to admit a single student in that category in any of 90 colleges under its ambit till now. Every year, DU receives a number of applications in the “third gender” category. However, instead of joining regular courses, most of them join the School of Open Learning.
“Most of them don’t take admission in regular courses because of stigma and discrimination and opt for the School of Open Learning,” Professor Rajesh said.
In 2018, there were 45 applications under the “other” category, but none of them took admission in any of the regular courses.
Hailed as progressive, the inclusion of the “other” category could not change the prevailing prejudice, thereby making it difficult to create a more inclusive campus for transgender aspirants.
On the condition of anonymity, an assistant professor of DU said: “The University of Delhi and its colleges do not have adequate infrastructure and affirmative policies to accommodate transgender students. The Transgender Resource Centre is almost non-functional. But more importantly, the stigma and the resultant discrimination that transgender people face in general within the Indian society are the greatest obstacles that the university community has so far failed to overcome.”
The required policies and infrastructural changes to accommodate transgender students are lacking in the university campus as well as its constituent colleges. So far, there is no mechanism to address the infrastructural issues faced by the transgender community, such as single cubicle gender neutral washrooms and gender inclusive rest rooms. “At a policy level, there should be anti-discrimination policies specifying that sexual orientation and the gender identity of a person are no grounds for discrimination. There should also be large-scale gender sensitisation programmes for existing students and affirmative support system for transgender students. Unfortunately, this is what the university lacks,” the assistant professor added.
Delhi-based transgender rights activist Amrita told The Sunday Guardian: “The main problem arises with the ID documents. For example, someone has changed his/her name and based on that new identity or name, he/she goes for education. But the college and the university are not ready to accept this. So things become complicated and somehow, they have to go the magistrate or higher level of authority. Apart of this, there is bullying and discrimination everywhere.’’
This lack in infrastructural and policy levels compel transgender students to go for open learning and, in a way, alienate themselves from mainstream society. “The Transgender Resource Centre is a go-between government departments and the transgender community. Now, we are trying to reach out to the community through community-based organisations. We are also focusing on gender sensitisation of educational institutions,’’ Amrita added.