No takers for transgender quota in BU postgrad courses

Bengaluru: Although the Bangalore University (BU) has been reserving seats in postgraduate courses for the third gender for the past 13 years, no candidate from the community had availed the quota.

Authorities, who found 2023 no different from the previous years, believed that hesitancy among candidates in revealing their identity as the reason for failure to admit them under the quota. 

S Srinivas, Registrar (Evaluation), BU, suspected that third gender candidates are seeking admission in the general quota based on merit to avoid revealing their identity. BU, therefore, froze the seats reserved for them.

“Since this is a supernumerary quota, it cannot be converted into the general category,” Srinivas explained the rationale behind freezing the seats.

Though the varsity received applications under the quota in the past, they found them to be fake. Students claimed admission without properly understanding what it was meant for.

A senior professor overseeing admissions at that time said: “Three years ago, there were two applications. But on verification, the students admitted to claiming it without understanding the details, leading to the rejection of their applications.”

In 2010, BU pioneered the reservation for transgender persons in postgraduate programmes to integrate them into mainstream education. The varsity initially introduced the third gender category alongside male and female in the application process.

With over 60 PG departments and over 4,000 seats available, including those at affiliated colleges, the university has not witnessed participation under the transgender quota.

Responding to community and activist demands, the Pre-University Education Department has also incorporated a third gender column in application forms for admissions to PU courses.