In April of 2014, in an empowering judgment, the Supreme Court of India recognised transgender community as the ‘third’ gender. This is when the ‘foundation’ of the empowerment of transgender community in the country was laid.
From the very day of this judgment, headlines never left the transgender community. From a specialised school opening in Kochi to India seeing it’s very first transgender principal of a college. The dreams of empowerment that these people dreamt of were finally coming true.
Another feather to this cap are the statistics furnished by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB). According to the information furnished by the BSEB, 245 transgenders have registered for the Intermediate exams. And around 8 from the Others community are going to sit for the Matriculation exam.
These exams will be conducted in February and March of this year.
Almost 30 lakh students have registered and now the registration for these exams is in its final phase. Out of these 30 lakhs, around 12.6 lakh have enrolled for Class XII and 17.6 lakh for Class X to write the state board exams.
This is the first time, a separate ‘third gender’ column has been provided in the registration forms. And instead of being insecure or doubtful of the move even the transgender community has gladly welcomed it. The statistics though not very huge but still an indication of a great start.
Although, the transgender community was expecting this entire process way before than 2017 but then they do appreciate the fact that “better late than never”.
And the column isn’t limited to just registration forms; the admit cards, answer sheets, mark sheets and passing certificates will also be inclusive of the third gender.
I always advocated that the State should provide equal opportunity to all and that third gender members should be able to write exams just like any other male or female student. And the move by BSEB is actually going to help India achieve this objective.
The Supreme Court had recognised transgender community as third gender and directed the government to treat them as socially and educationally backward classes in its judgment in 2014.
SC also asked to extend reservation to the third gender for admission in educational institutions and for public appointments.
In compliance with the same, Bihar had announced OBC status for them in March last year and has finally introduced the ‘Others’ column in forms for registration for exams as well as other documents.
Another victory for the T community, isn’t it?
India finally, is becoming more and more inclusive and it’s great!
What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments below!
You’d also like to read: Kerala’s Latest Step Towards Transgender Equality Is Another Success For The Community
