Karnataka based formal educational institutes will now be providing a mandatory reservation for transgenders and the sexual minorities.

All the Karnataka based formal educational institutes will now be providing a mandatory reservation for transgenders and the sexual minorities. After getting consent from all its departments, Karnataka government took the decision. On Thursday, law minister T B Jayachandra said the government policy on transgenders was given much thought and the cabinet finally concluded to accept the policy and implement the same.

As per HT report, the Karnataka state policy on transgenders was approved by the state cabinet and appears to be unequivocally in support of bringing the transgender community to the mainstream.

Separate toilets

The policy also said that educational institute should have a separate toilet for the transgenders and that section 36 A of the Police Act which criminalises hijras and other members of the transgender community should be modified.

“The issue of separate toilets were discussed in the cabinet for transgenders, and we have agreed upon the fact that it must be incorporated,” said Jayachandra.

Promoting literacy

“The policy speaks of bringing the trans community into quotas and categories of Sarvashiksha Abhiyan, right to education (RTE) and similar such programmes in an effort to promote literacy and reduce drop outs,” said the minister.

In the policy it was noted that the labour department in fact had recommended further reservation in vocational courses by reserving five seats each in ITIs and polytechnics across the state, in order to equip them for employment.

Jayachandra said that as the transgender community is pretty small, so setting aside a percentage of seats won’t be required while incorporating them in education institutes.

Accepting a trans child

An awareness policy will also be used by the anganwadi workers to reach out to the family members to sensitize about trans child in their families. The government has also said that there needs to be a timely process to change their names and gender in their educational institutes.

Free surgeries

The state government under its new policy for transgenders has said it is considering free sex re-assignment surgeries in select government hospitals. The surgeries include breast removal (F2M), breast implantation (M2F), uterus removal (F2M), penis reconstruction (F2M) and penis castration (M2F).