The University of Calcutta has included the ‘Third Gender’ option in its admission forms for the next academic session. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee informed the same.

Along with male and female, the admission forms for post-graduate and under-graduate courses in the university will now have the option of third gender, Banerjee told PTI.

The decision to include the option was taken after a notice by the University Grants Commission (UGC) called for the inclusion of transgender as third gender in various scholarships and fellowships.

Responding to the demand of the present time, the university felt that there should not be any discrimination in higher education facilities on the basis of someone’s sex, Chakraborty said.

Till now, candidates had to tick in a box to denote the applicant’s sex – male or female – while filling up the admission form of the university.

Source: PTI