In a move which is being welcomed, the Kerala state government has introduced scholarships for of students from transgender community. This new funding scheme for the development of third gender by state Social Justice Department is reportedly first of its kind in India.

 

The New Indian Express reports that government will spend Rs 62.5 lakh this year for the education of students from the community.

 

The report says that postgraduate, undergraduate and diploma students will receive Rs 2,000 per month, grade 11 and grade 12 students will get Rs 1,500 and grade 7 to grade 10 will get Rs 1,000.

 

“Nowhere else in the country have such a scholarship programme instituted for transgender students by a state government. This is to bring down the incidents of harassment against TG students. Students will be required to produce medical certificate and the schools need to identify them. We have to see how it would turn out and cannot predict the nature of response from students,” said V N Jithendran, director of Social Justice Department told TNIE.

 

The department has also proposed an anti-discrimination cell in all universities and other educational institutions to monitor the problems faced by third gender students.

 

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