Trans students in higher education: low numbers, non-existent facilities in Pune’s institutes

On Tuesday, minister for higher and technical education, Chandrakant Patil, in a meeting with vice-chancellors of all public universities of the state, announced that the government will bear the cost of higher education for transgender students in public universities and its affiliated colleges. A government resolution regarding the same was released on Thursday by the Ministry of Higher and Technical Education.

According to data from the deputy collector’s office, there are 537 transgender people registered as voters in Pune district. Of these, eight are in the age group 18-19 and 191 are between ages 20 and 29. However, ground level NGOs and activists estimate the total number to be nearly 5,000 in Pune alone and over 40,000 across Maharashtra.

In such a scenario, the number of enrolled transgender students in what is known as the ‘education hub’ of India, is rather dismal. The surveyed colleges included COEP Technological University, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, IISER, SNDT University, Bharati Vidyapeeth University and SPPU-affiliated colleges like Fergusson College, SP College, Modern College of Arts, Science and Commerce, BMCC (Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce).

SPPU confirmed that according to the exam form data, there are 41 transgender students enrolled either in SPPU itself or in its affiliated colleges spread across Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik, as of December 6. This number also includes students that would be enrolled in distance learning programmes. While members of the transgender community laud this move, it will be ‘an empty promise’, they caution, unless supplemented with facilities for accommodation, employment and gender sensitisation in institutional spaces.

Aakruti Patel, a consultant for MIST LGBTQ foundation and trans woman herself said, “Everyone starts talking about toilets but the bigger question is that of accommodation. It is next to impossible for us to find accommodation in rental homes or student PGs. Even if the fees are taken care of, do colleges have hostels for transgender students? Secondly, it is useless to talk about education without talking about employment. Even if a transgender student studies medicine or law, how likely are they to get patients or clients tomorrow? Most of us get discouraged by the dismal job prospects.”

She stressed the need for reservation and fellowships from the government for trans people in education and employment so that they can study and eventually become self-sufficient. “Along with this, we need awareness and support from society,” she said.

She added, “Often the age at which most people are completing higher education is the age at which transgender youth are undergoing transition and instability, whether it’s running away from unsupportive homes or looking for jobs to make ends meet. So, usually there is a big gap in their studies. They need to be given extra academic attention and overall support to ensure they do not drop out.”

Trans woman activist Shameebha Patil said, “Most of the transgender youth do not live with families and have no financial support from them. So this is a crucial decision. However, we need support for maintenance, books and study material as well as reliable hostel provisions. A government resolution released on March 3 this year stated that in the gender column, the word ‘Transgender’ will replace the vague ‘Other’ category but most institutes have not even done that.”

While one of the top SPPU-affiliated colleges has a trans woman student– the first in the institute– she has been admitted in the male category as per her documents of birth. According to her teachers, she also works part-time to support herself and has been facing problems finding accommodation for herself close to college.

“Whatever guidelines we receive from the government regarding higher education of transgender students, we will pass on to our affiliated colleges as well. We hope to support them,” said acting registrar of SPP, Vijay Khare.
Principal of Fergusson College Nitin Kulkarni said, “Two years back, we included a ‘TG’ category in our application forms. Providing hostels is already a challenge for our existing students. But if there are transgender students and there is any demand, then we can possibly utilise our guest room facilities for them. Most colleges have such a facility. We have our alumni association building where there are eight rooms. So some such adjustments can be made by colleges.”