Need more tolerance on campus, says principal of Bengal college

AT HR COLLEGE, TEACHING STAFF AS WELL AS STUDENTS HAVE BEEN PUT THROUGH SENSITISATION PROGRAMMES

MUMBAI: Universities and colleges not only need to spread awareness about the third gender, but also bring about necessary changes on campuses, including a separate washroom for students as well as a special cell to hear their complaints.

This is what a University Grants Commission (UGC) circular said earlier this year.

Not all these have been implemented as yet.

“It’s not just about toilets. First of all, students must be sensitised about transgenders. There should be tolerance on the campus. Besides, the government should strictly implement the Supreme Court directives on the third gender,” said Manabi Bandopadhyay, who recently took charge as India’s first transgender principal at Vivekananda Satobarshiki Mahavidyalaya in West Bengal.

Pallav Patankar, programme director, Humsafar Trust, a group working with the LGBT community, said that any social movement needs great amount of courage as well as political will. “While recognition to the trans-community looks very well on paper, there seems to be something lacking in its actual implementation,” he said.

Patankar added that the trans-community does not respond to paper policy but looks forward to a visible change in the society in terms of acceptance. “Apart from awareness workshops, there is a need for the society to ensure that transgenders are not looked at in a different light,” he added.

The UGC circular also encouraged research projects from academicians who can collaborate ethnographic research on the life and culture of the group. “We will award major research projects which will not only lead to a better understanding of the third gender subculture but also help dispel several myths pertaining to the community embedded in popular discourse,” said the circular.

At HR College in Churchgate, teaching as well as non-teaching staff along with the students have been put through sensitisation programmes.

“We also trained our nonteaching staff during the admissions season on how to handle applications under the ‘Other’ category. While there’s been no separate toilets built for the students yet, we are waiting to see applications first and based on it will bring about further changes, if need be,” said Indu Shahani, principal of HR College.