Transgenders to get free education in public varsities, affiliated colleges in Maharashtra

Maharashtra will provide free-of-cost higher education for transgenders in public universities and affiliated colleges in the state.

State’s Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil made the announcement on Tuesday, following a state-level meeting with vice-chancellors of all universities for effective implementation of new National Education Policy.

As per the information shared by the office of the higher and technical education minister, Patil floated the idea of providing free higher education to transgender students in public universities and affiliated colleges.

“Patil appealed to universities to bear the cost of tuition fee of transgender students, from its funds. It was unanimously agreed upon by VCs present for the meeting,” shared an official from the department.

The official continued, “Beginning the discussion of higher education for transgenders is a first step toward encouraging inclusivity on campuses of higher education institutions in Maharashtra. State plans to formulate a comprehensive policy to ensure inclusion of transgenders in higher education. The minister has urged VCs to work toward this by starting with identifying the challenges faced by transgender students which can be infrastructural shortcomings such as absence of separate toilets to lack of sensitisation in the student community which leads to bullying and other issues, thus deterring many from revealing their identity.”

Also Read | Transgenders can now study all IGNOU courses for free

Recently, KC Law college admitted a transgender student in their fresh batch of LLB course, through centralised admission process conducted by Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell.

Mumbai University currently has 7 transgender students studying in affiliated colleges.

The Tuesday’s meeting, held in Dr. Homi Bhabha State University in Mumbai, was attended by various administrative heads from the departments and Vice-Chancellors (VCs) of all state universities, along with members of the NEP2020 steering committee of the state, headed by Dr. Nitin Karmalkar, former V-C of Savitribai Phule Pune University.

The meeting also discussed the status of NAAC accreditation status of universities and affiliated colleges. Patil urged that a voters’ registration campaign should be held by the National Service Scheme (NSS) students in universities and colleges so that all students who are eligible to vote get registered.

He also asked universities to consider offering certification courses without exams for individuals who left education due to reasons such as job or business and do not return to education fearing exams.