EDUCATION RIGHT OF
TRANSGENDERS
COMMUNITY WITH
SPECIAL JUGEMENTS
OF SC 2014
INTRODUCTION :
Education is essential for the development of any
democratic country. India is a democratic country. The
spirit of the Indian Constitution is to provide equal
opportunity to every citizen to grow and attain their
potential, irrespective of caste, religion or gender .
Everyone has a gender identity. In India there are three
gender; male, female and transgender. In a landmark
judgment, the Supreme Court of India on April 2014
created the "third gender" status for hijras or trans
genders. As per census 2011, there are around 4.9 lakh
third gender in the country who faces social
discrimination and harassment .Transgenders were
respected earlier in the society but situation has changed
and they now face discrimination and harassment. Now,
transgenders will study in schools and colleges with all
facility approving their admission under the category of
"disadvantaged group" defined by the Right to
Education Act2009 (RTE). Transgenders are eligible
for twenty five percent reservation under the
economically weaker section (EWS) and disadvantaged
students category for admission. They are socially and
economically backward. Transgender will be allowed
admission in educational institutions and given
employment on the basis that they belonged to the third
gender category .The Supreme Court said absence of
law recognizing hijras as third gender could not be
continued as a ground to discriminate them in availing
equal opportunities in education and employment .The
Supreme Court said they will be given educational and
employment reservation as OBCs .Transgenders are
deprived of social and cultural participation, are
shunned by family and society. This paper is as a step
towards enhancing the participation of transgender in
mainstream education including higher education,
professional education and employment. The paper has
analysed the present educational, social and
employment status of transgender community in India.
Status of Transgender Education:
Third Gender i.e. Transgender is a new sex in Indian
Constitution. This new sex emerges with a major
population. They are deprived of social and cultural
participation and hence they have restricted access to
education, health care and public places which further
deprives them of the Constitutional guarantee of
equality before law and equal protection of laws.
Educational Status: No formal education for
transgender is popular in Indian context. They are
deprived from family and school environment,
transgender discontinue their education and risk their
future career opportunities. A close analysis of various
reports and discussion with community and
stakeholders suggest that transgender are most
uneducated or undereducated, become reluctant to
continue schooling. The average qualification is
secondary (Matric) or senior secondary level. The
enrolment is significantly low and dropout rate at the
primary and secondary level is still very high. They are
hardly educated as they are nor accepted by the society
and therefore do not receive proper schooling. Even if
they are enrolled in an educational institute, they face
harassment and are bullied every day and are asked to
leave the school or they drop out on their own. It is
because of this that they take up begging and sex work.
it mandatory for the Government to provide inclusive
education for transgender students and provide adult
education to them. Beside these some transgender on
working reputed place, ManabiBandyopadhyay
working as a principal to a government college in West
Bengal and AmrutaAlpeshSoni as the advocacy officer
for the states of Punjab, Haryana and Chhattisgarh for
the National AIDS Control
Challenges of Transgender
Education :
The nomenclature “third gender” is a problem in itself:
it treats sexuality as a ladder-like structure in which the
lowest rung is occupied by the queer community.
Although it provides them with legal recognition, it
does not alleviate them of their adject conditions as they
continue to be a part of the marginalized section of
society and are not considered equal to the rest of the
Indian population. India has finally been able to
successfully
adopt the inclusion principle which was for a long time
hoped for but not acted upon, it is also important to
bring to attention the various ways in which it has been
a failure. The third gender people will be considered as
OBCs .The Supreme Court of India said they will be
given educational and employment reservation as
OBCs. The apex court also said states and the Centre
will devise social welfare schemes for third gender
community and run a public awareness campaign to
erase social stigma. The Supreme Court said the states
must construct special public toilets and departments to
look into their special medical issues.
1. Inclusion in School/ college and University:
Inclusion of transgender with school and college is a
big challenge. It is so challenging to provide equal
opportunity of education to transgender because there
is a problem of inclusion with male and female gender
students.
2. Use of disrespectful names and pronouns:
When a transgender youth identifies as a particular
gender (irrespective of biological sex), it is respectful to
the youth's human dignity to use the name chosen and
the pronouns appropriate to that particular gender. To
persevere intentionally in the use of a prior name and
other pronouns is to be deliberately disrespectful.
Transgender youth can understand and sympathize with
some confusion, so long as there is continuous, good
faith progress in using the proper name and pronouns.
3. Lack of access to appropriate restroom facilities:
Transgender people often lack safe access to public
restrooms. They may be assaulted if they use the
restroom that conforms to their gender identity or
forced to use a restroom that does not conform to their
gender identity. Transgender people often have no safe
access to locker room facilities that conform to their
gender identity. Wherever dress codes are enforced,
they may create problems for transgender youth.
4. Confidentiality:
Transgender youth may have unsupportive families and
may even face violence and/or ejection from their home
if their gender identity or gender expression is disclosed
to the family.
5. Lack of ideal personality:
Transgender youth often feel alone in the world. Few
programs for youth employ transgender people; few
libraries offer information about biological sex and
gender, gender identity, or being transgender.
Judgment
The Court has directed Centre and State
Governments to grant legal recognition of gender
identity whether it be male, female or third-gender:
Legal Recognition for Third Gender: In
recognizing the third gender category, the Court
recognized that fundamental rights are available
to the third gender in the same manner as they
are to males and females. Further, non-
recognition of third gender in both criminal and
civil statutes such as those relating to marriage,
adoption, divorce, etc. is discriminatory to the
transgender.
Legal Recognition for Persons transitioning
within male/female binary: As for how the
actual procedure of recognition will happen, the
Court merely states that they prefer to follow the
psyche of the person and use the "Psychological
Test' as opposed to the 'Biological Test.' They
also declare that insisting on Sex Reassignment
Surgery (SRS) as a condition for changing one's
gender is illegal.
Public Health and
Sanitation: Centre and State
Governments have been directed to take proper
measures to provide medical care to
transgenders in hospitals and provide them
separate public toilets and other facilities.
Further, they have been directed to operate
separate HIV/Sero-surveillance measures for
transgenders.
Socio-Economic Rights: Centre and State
Governments have been asked to provide the
community various social welfare schemes and
to treat the community as socially and
economically backward classes. They have also
been asked to extend reservation in educational
institutions and for public appointments.
Stigma and Public Awareness: These are the
broadest directions - Centre and State
Governments were asked to take steps to create
public awareness to better help incorporate
transgenders into society and end treatment
as untouchables; take measures to regain their
respect and place in society; and seriously
address the problems such
as fear, shame, gender dysphoria, social
pressure, depression, suicidal
tendencies and social stigma.
