Tamil Nadu to extend scholarships for trans persons pursuing PG, PhD courses

CHENNAI: The scholarship announced in February for trans persons to pursue college education is likely to be extended to students enrolling in postgraduate and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) courses.

The Department of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment had written to the government to additionally cover the higher education courses.

During the budget session in February, the Minister of Finance and Human Resource Management Thangam Thenarasu announced that the government would cover all educational expenses, including tuition and hostel fees for trans persons pursuing college education. And for the same, Rs 2 crore has been allocated.

Currently, though there is no announcement that the scholarship will be given only to undergraduate courses, the department has been only providing monetary aid to trans persons studying UG courses within Tamil Nadu.

However, following this, the government was urged to provide clarity if the scholarship is available to all kinds of courses, including PG and PhD and if the aid is applicable to colleges operating only within the state.

Commenting, the department official said, "We submitted the report to the government a couple of months back. We have made a reservation for extending the scholarship for PG and PhD courses during one of the recent welfare board meetings, of which Minister Geetha Jeevan is the chairperson."

The official further added that with only a few trans persons already pursuing school and college education, extending the scholarship will cover more of the community.

Meanwhile, since the government began issuing the scholarship, so far three trans persons have benefitted. The amount of Rs 4.75 lakh was given to an undergraduate trans medical student and Rs 45,000 to a trans girl pursuing a bachelor's degree.

Lastly, a trans nursing student belonging to a south TN district received Rs 9,000.