KOCHI: In order help adults who adult transgenders who dropped out of school to finish their education, a residential school for transgender people has been opened in Kochi on Saturday.
Sahaj International is the first school of its kind in India. It will welcome 10 pupils, aged 25-50. The students will be prepared for India's Class 10 and 12 board exams, normally sat when students are aged 15-16 or 17-18 respectively. The curriculum will also include some vocational skills.
Transgender activist Vijayraja Mallika, who heads the school, told the: "The school aims at making transgenders eligible for taking decent jobs and living a dignified life."
Teachers are also transgender: The teachers also belong to the transgender community - a measure designed to protect and encourage the pupils.
The decision comes after India's first transgender college principal, Manabi Bandopadhyay, resigned from her post claiming that some of her students and fellow teachers had agitated against her because of her sexual identity.
TRANSGENDER IN INDIA: India has an estimated two million transgender people, and in 2014 the country's Supreme Court ruled that they have equal rights under the law. As well as the right to marry and inherit property, they are also eligible for quotas in jobs and educational institutions.
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