West Bengal government tells colleges to provide separate toilets for trans people
The Government in West Bengal has asked state-funded colleges to offer separate toilet facilities for trans people.
The Indian state asked all colleges receiving state funding, or which are run by the government, to offer separate facilities, according to Mashable.
One student told reporters: “I’ve always had trouble using the girls’ toilet. This is a big step. When I took admission, there was no option for the ‘third gender. Hence, I had to enrol as a female.”
But some principals have said the plan is not feasible as there is limited space.
Others have said that trans students would be separated and identified through the use of separate facilities.
The Supreme Court issued a landmark verdict in April 2014, creating a new category that allows transgender people to identify themselves as such on official documents, and recognising them for the first time.
In India, transgender people, known culturally as Hijras, often consider themselves to be a third gender which is neither male nor female.
Last year West Bengal appointed its first trans college principal Manabi Bandopadhyay, who took over at the Krishnanagar Women’s College.
