Forms to have column for Third Gender in Kerala University

In a major decision of including transgender community in the mainstream, University of Kerala has approved a transgender policy for the first time in the state. The forms of University will carry a column for transgender apart from the usual male/female column. This move was based on the direction of University Grants Commission (UGC) to accept transgender following a Supreme Court order in 2014.
The Kerala University syndicate approved the transgender policy on Wednesday. Vice chancellor Prof P K Radhakrishnan said that the university has been working on the policy for the past 5-6 months. “The policy has transgender friendly features and is not just limited to including name in the column,” he said.
The transgender students could use a gender neutral prefix Mx in the column in university forms.
Transgender activist Sheethal Syam said that it was a great moment for transgender community in the state. “The Kerala University decision to introduce column for transgender is a great step. This assumes significance at a time when the transgender policy of the state revealed that one out of 5 transgenders drop out from schools due to unfriendly environment. Presence of a column will make students as well as teachers aware of the existence of a third gender. This will make others try to understand and accept the diversity of gender,” Sheetal said.
Bangalore University was the first to accept third gender in application form. Later, following the UGC order, Delhi University, Mumbai University, Jamia Millia Islamia etc have introduced separate columns to include third gender.
UGC in September 2014 had notified transgenders as the third gender to enable them to be eligible for all scholarship schemes and fellowship programmes.
Kerala is the first state to introduce a transgender policy among Indian states back in November.