No third gender option yet in UP colleges

In the absence of the mandatory government notification, transgenders have yet to be recognised in leading educational institutional.

The Supreme Court, on April 15, had recognised transgenders as the third genders but bureaucratic delays are preventing them from availing educational opportunities.

The Lucknow University ( LU) and two prominent educational institutions in Lucknow — the National PG College and Isabella Thoburn ( IT) College are liberal to the third gender when it comes to pursuing higher education. However, LU admission coordinator for under- graduate courses, Prof. Praveen Naggar said that discussions were held whether to offer transgender as a third option for applicant but it was turned down in the absence of a government notification.

He said that as things stand now, transgenders seeking admission in LU will have to choose male or female as their gender.

According to the judgment, the third gender can now be admitted to campuses and work places under the third category and will be given reservation as OBCs.

Similarly, National PG College that kicked off its admission process earlier this month did not offer the third gender as an option. “We had a detailed talk on the topic and we wanted to include it but there was no formal notification from the government. The government should initiate action,” said Rakesh Jain, admission coordinator. IT College, however, showed no interest to include the third gender option.

College principal Vinita Prakash said that the college did not deliberate on the issue in this session. “Maybe if there are orders from the government, we will include it as the third gender option in the application forms form next year,” she said. Payal, a transgender, said, “Our community has been marginalised for a very long and I feel that there has to be a change in the mindset of people because court orders alone will not suffice.”