The All India Council for Technical Education has decided to admit transgender students to co-ed institutes that come under its purview in the 2017-2018 academic year, reported Hindustan Times. There are more than 3,000 engineering colleges under the AICTE.
“There was an earlier communication from the HRD ministry regarding this,” an unidentified official told Hindustan Times. “We have now included this in the approval handbook so that every institute can maintain data separately. It will also ensure that transgender students don’t face any discrimination.”
In 2014, the Supreme Court had ruled that members of the transgender community should be treated as the third gender for admission in educational institutions and jobs. In 2015, the University Grants Commission had told all universities to include a column for the transgender category in their application forms.
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