Transgender students await inclusion of third gender category in forms; Maharashtra registers highest number of applicants

CBSE vs CISCE

When it comes to the national education boards, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) introduced the third category in 2017 board exam applications. While the data for year-wise registration is not available, in 2018 the board recorded 83.33 pass percentage for transgender category students in Class 10 which increased to 94.74 per cent in 2019, but dipped to 78.95 per cent in 2020. While 2021 (Covid year) reported 100 per cent pass percentage, 2022 and 2023 recorded 90 per cent.

Read | SC verdict on same sex marriages Explained Live: Breaking down the top court’s judgment

Similarly, in 2019 Class 12 transgender students reported a pass percentage of 83.33 per cent, which dipped to 66.67 per cent in 2020. The pass percentage of transgender Class 12 students was reported as 100 per cent in 2021 and 2022 (Covid years), which fell to 60 per cent this year.

(Graphic by Abhishek Mitra)

A total of six transgender students registered and appeared for Class 12 exams in 2019, 2020 and 2022, seven students in 2021 and five students in 2023. Interestingly, participation of transgender students has been more in Class 10 as 20 students registered in 2019, 19 in 2020, 13 in 2021, 20 in 2022 and 10 in 2023.

While CBSE has been making strides in gender inclusion, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has not been able to implement the same for ICSE and ISC exams. Gerry Arathoon, the Chief Executive and Secretary of CISCE, told indianexpress.com that the Board has not yet received any such request and as of now, they have ‘male’ and ‘female’ as gender categories. “We do not have the transgender category in the gender section right now because no student has come to us with a request for this. But if someone appeals for the same, we will surely consider it and do an analysis of whether or not the associated schools are able to include this and other details. On the basis of that analysis, we will be able to introduce this category,” he said.

What do government policies say?

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 identifies transgender children as Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs). The Union government has urged all state and national education boards to provide equitable quality education, inter-alia, for all transgender students.

This includes ‘provisions for assisting transgender children in gaining access to education, support for community-based interventions that address local context-specific barriers to transgender children’s access to and participation in education’.

The NEP 2020 also advised constituting a ‘Gender-Inclusion Fund’ which is made available to all states to “implement priorities determined by the Central government critical for assisting female and transgender children in gaining access to education (such as the provisions of sanitation and toilets, bicycles, conditional cash transfers, etc.); funds will also enable states to support and scale effective community-based interventions that address local context-specific barriers to female and transgender children’s access to and participation in education,” NEP states.

Transgender rights activist Kalki Subramaniam believes that government needs to counsel and encourage children. “These school kids are minors and not in a position to determine their gender. How will they tick a column when there is no family or school support? Won’t they be scared of discrimination? There is a lack of awareness, vision and gender sensitisation. In 2016, I inaugurated a school for transgender students in Kerala, unfortunately, it has closed down due to a lack of infrastructure. Nothing is happening on the ground to support their education. We have to build an inclusive environment for these children,” Subramaniam said.

As per the Ministry of Education, there are 55 boards of which the top 5 states cover about 50 per cent of students. These are UP, CBSE, Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal — both secondary and higher secondary levels.

State boards wait for ‘requests’

Some state boards have also started introducing the ‘transgender’ or ‘third-gender’ category in the board exam registrations.

Maharashtra state board (MSBSHSE) has one of the highest numbers of transgender students in the country. The board introduced the category in 2018 and since then it has enrolled 357 students under the ‘third gender’ category at the SSC level and 569 students at the HSC level. While in 2019, the registration for HSC (class 12) and SSC (class 10) crossed 100, this year, it has gone down to 33 and 23 students.

(Graphic by Abhishek Mitra)

West Bengal is another state which has the highest number of transgender students in school education. In 2022, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) introduced the option of a third gender category for students taking their Class 11 exams. According to WBCHSE, around 600 students had enrolled for the Class 11 registration who will appear for their Class 12 board exam in 2024. This year, WBCHSE announced that one transgender candidate cleared the Class 12 board exam.

Additionally, in 2017, as per reports, 18 students in Bihar were allowed to appear for the matric and inter exams conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) under the third-gender category. According to board officials, 10 third-gender students took the Class 12 exams and eight registered for their Class 10 exams.

However, when indianexpress.com asked for year-wise registration, the BSEB, like many other state boards, has no data available. This year too, the press release doesn’t mention any details on pass percentage while information on girls and boys categories is out there.

Uttar Pradesh, too, claims the same. “Any student who wants to appear for board exams under the ‘transgender’ category is more than welcome to do so, and we have always motivated students to register under the category they wish to,” says Dinesh Sharma, who was the deputy Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2017 to 2022, and the mayor of Lucknow.

Sharma also claims that he ensured the students registering under the ‘transgender’ category in schools or colleges get free or discounted education. However, when asked for data for the third gender category students, UP Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad was not able to provide that and claims that “only 1 student took admission under this category in Class 9 a couple of years ago”.

(Graphic by Abhishek Mitra)

The Haryana Board of School Education (HBSE) admitted that while there is no such category, the Board “doesn’t stop” any student from appearing for state board exams under the ‘transgender’ category. “It’s not that we are not welcoming towards this, but that no student has written ‘third gender/transgender’ in their form as of now. If a student keys in ‘transgender’ in the gender category, we will surely motivate them to go ahead,” said Krishan Kumar, secretary of HBSE.

Meanwhile, Kumar said that they added the category in their HTET exam when a student approached them for the addition of this category.

Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) also added this category two years ago and has been one of the few state boards which motivated transgender students in their press conferences for the result declaration. The state board announced that this year in Class 5, a total of 10 transgender students appeared for the exams and recorded a 100 per cent pass percentage.

Six transgender students appeared in Class 8 exams 100 per cent pass percentage) and three students in Class 10 (100 per cent pass percentage).

“Our education should be inclusive, and the so-called ‘deprived community’ should be encouraged and supported. The participation of these students is increasing in Punjab Board and we welcome this change,” a PSEB official said in a press conference.

However, several other state boards such as Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Manipur, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, (as per recent press releases) amongst others still do not have the transgender category in their board examinations.

These state boards claim that the category is missing from their state as there have been no requests for inclusion of it yet. “We don’t have the category yet as no student has particularly asked for this yet. But the Goa Board is very positive and supportive about this, and we will definitely introduce this category if any student approaches us and decides to reveal their identity,” says Bhagirath Shetye, Chairman of Goa Board.

While some state boards are still waiting for “requests”, others such as Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) have decided to bring the change and be more inclusive. “We didn’t have the category till now and we have not even received any such request but we decided that it is time we introduce this gender category and be more inclusive,” Pulak Patgiri, Secretary of AHSEC, told indianexpress.com.

NTA leads the way

While school children are still waiting for more inclusion in board exams, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has paved the way by adding the third gender/transgender category to some of the biggest competitive exams of the country, such as JEE Main and NEET UG exam.

In the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG, the number of registrations in the ‘transgender’ category increased from 6 in 2019 and 2020 to 15 in 2021, 11 in 2022 and 13 in 2023.

Similarly, in Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main, the total registrations under the third gender/transgender category was 5 students in 2020, 2021 and 2023 — four students registered in 2022.

“Inclusion is very important and the NTA is very mindful and sensitive about it. We try to maintain inclusion of students from all backgrounds — PwD candidates, students from economically weaker sections, etc — and we even design the question papers in such a manner. Keeping this in mind, we are also very mindful about gender inclusivity, and thus introduced the third gender/transgender category a few years ago,” a senior NTA official told indianexpress.com.

— With inputs from Pallavi Smart