India To Open Its First Transgender University In UP. Here’s Why We Don’t Think This Is A Great Idea
It is a different kind of an experience to be a minority in a country that holds its stereotypes and misogynistic views close to its heart and protects it with a ferocity. And you can be a minority because of your religion, your colour, your faith and we know, because of your sexuality. Being a woman living in a male-dominated country, I know of that feeling a little too well. And so does another community that experiences the same – the transgender community – their voices are crushed, their power is curtailed and despite many leaps, they’ve faced discrimination just for who they are. And it doesn’t matter how much the government claims to be doing, there is hardly any support that has come along in the right sense for them, in their struggle.
This after, the news about India’s first ever transgender university to be opened in the Kushinagar district of UP started doing rounds. It has made us wonder about the thought was behind it. Aiming to facilitate a university teaching students from class 1 all the way to post graduation and even PhD for a few courses, the university is being built by the Akhil Bhartiya Kinnar Siksha Seva Trust (All-India transgender education service trust).
Also Read : The Rajya Sabha Passed The Controversial Transgender Persons Bill And There’s So Much Wrong With It
The president of the trust, Dr. Krishna Mohan Mishra said, “It is the first of its kind in the country where members of transgender community will be able to get education and the process of has already been initiated. From January 15 next year, two children who are brought up by the community members will get admission and from February and March other classes will start.” Further to this, another member from the community said , “I am happy that we will be educated and get respect in the society. Education has power and I am sure it will not only change our lives but also the lives of others.”
India's first university for transgender community will be opened in #UttarPradesh's Kushinagar district to facilitate its members to study right from class one to PG and even do research and get PhD degree.https://t.co/fPzExdvJvM
— The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) December 26, 2019
A step that is coming across as a sort of a minor victory to most and it at some level probably is, has rather forced us to wonder just why would they need a different university altogether as opposed to them studying in regular institutions just like the rest of us. At the first go, it seems like a good thing – a university that will help the community that feels thwarted and marginalised. But then, the idea would be get integrated, to become part of the mainstream. To have a separate university then just undoes any mixing with people on the spectrum or outside of it and we at Hauterfly think that this might undo the very progress that it is trying to push forward. Taking them away from regular universities will only further the stereotypes and prejudice and create more divide in our minds, leading them to feel differently than others.
In fact, chances are and they are high, with the kind of bullying, harassment and bias that runs around in the society, this might even make them easy targets for people with transphobia to pick on, or even worse – dismiss. Besides, we can’t forget how there was also a time when transgenders were even afraid to check their gender right during university admissions because of such harassment. And that is exactly why instead of fostering a “you can’t sit with us” kind of an attitude, institutions and universities should consider enrolling transgenders in already existing universities, because last we checked they do qualify as absolutely regular human beings and that, in our experience, is good enough for anyone to claim their right to education.
Unless your sexuality determines how smart you are. Which it doesn’t. Because I am a heterosexual female and I am smart, but I am no NASA scientist for sure.
And don’t get us wrong here, we don’t mean to slam down an effort that seems to be built on the idea of educating and thereby empowering the transgender community of the country. In fact, we are all for it and support the cause with full gusto. However, it is the approach here that feels rather flawed and is most definite to only add to them feeling more typecast. The idea to strengthen and embolden any community cannot come along by first taking them away from the regular narrative and later offering them an olive branch by accepting them.
We do however wish to look at the silver lining and hope that this action makes people realise the need to accept and welcome them members of society deserving of everything they want and need. Meanwhile, it continues to be a milestone in the fight for equality for transgenders and for that, we stand by it.
