New Dawn Queer-Trans Education Scholarship Programme

Context of the scholarship programme

Despite constitutional and legal strides toward equality, queer and trans individuals in West Bengal continue to face deep structural exclusion in the realm of education. While the state’s overall literacy rate is over 80%, the literacy rate among trans persons remains significantly lower, estimated at around 59% (Census 2011). This gap is not merely statistical – it reflects systemic neglect, discrimination, and the active marginalization of queer and trans identities in all formal institutions.

Schools and colleges often fail to provide a safe and affirming environment. Instances of bullying, gender-based harassment, lack of gender-neutral facilities, and a strict insistence on following the gender binary in uniforms drive many students to drop out, often before completing secondary education. As a result, many queer and trans persons are pushed out of the formal education system, effectively barring them from future employment opportunities in the formal sector that require at least minimum academic credentials.

A study on queer-trans socioeconomic inclusion in West Bengal conducted by BRIDGE, India; Prodigal’s Home, India; and StoryCenter, USA in 2022-23 found that 15% of the 908 respondents had dropped out of school or college because of stigma, discrimination, and bullying.

With limited access to formal and vocational education, many queer and trans individuals are restricted to informal or survival economies, some of them engaging in professions like sex work, menial labour, and in the case of Hijras and trans women, seeking alms (chhalla), blessing newly-weds and newborns (badhai), and performing Launda Nach in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. The last-mentioned occupations, while culturally recognized in some contexts, offer little social security or long-term sustainability.

Employment, whether in the formal or informal sector, remains uncertain because of persistent queerphobia and transphobia. Despite the 2014 Supreme Court NALSA judgment affirming the right to education and employment for trans persons, the 2019 Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, and the 2018 decriminalization verdict of the apex court, practical access to these rights remains elusive. Though the Calcutta High Court has directed West Bengal to put in place 1% reservation in public employment for transgender persons, the absence of a robust educational pipeline means most trans persons may be unable to qualify for the potential opportunities, rendering the policy ineffective.

In this context, Varta Trust has been running an economic inclusion mentoring forum since 2021 for queer and trans persons in West Bengal and other parts of eastern and north-eastern India. Based on research and advocacy experience since 2014-15 in Manipur, Odisha, and West Bengal, the Varta Economic Inclusion Mentoring Forum (VEIMF) connects queer and trans community members seeking education, skills, jobs, and self-employment with experienced social workers, entrepreneurs, government officials, and field experts for information, guidance, and training. Beginning in 2024, the VEIMF also started financial inclusion workshops for queer and trans persons in collaboration with Wishlist Capital, Kolkata.

To date, the VEIMF has mentored 33 individuals for CV development, higher education and skilling opportunities, and job placements (six of these individuals have been placed successfully in training courses and jobs); trained more than 50 people (online/offline) on a variety of employability skills; and facilitated financial inclusion measures for 23 individuals. The VEIMF also undertakes gender and sexuality sensitizations for trainers, employers, government social welfare officials, and other stakeholders.

In continuation of these activities, the VEIMF is now launching an education scholarship programme for socioeconomically disadvantaged queer and trans individuals in West Bengal, aiming to serve as a transformative intervention.

Apart from providing monetary support to queer and trans individuals, the programme will seek to shape institutional attitudes toward gender and sexuality diversity, and encourage schools and colleges to create more inclusive, affirming environments. Aligned with the vision of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 for transgender inclusion, flexibility, multidisciplinary learning, and holistic development, the programme will support traditional degrees, skill-based certifications, and, if feasible, pathways for sporting excellence. It will aim to affirm the idea that education is not a privilege for a few but a right for all, regardless of gender, sexuality, or socioeconomic background. If designed with care and implemented with accountability, the scholarship can more than bridge an educational gap – it can become a beacon for a just, inclusive, and equitable society.

Scholarship goal and objectives

The programme will aim to empower socioeconomically marginalized queer and trans individuals in West Bengal by enabling their access to formal and vocational education through financial and institutional support. It will enable them to persist in educational and vocational settings that have historically excluded them. The scholarship envisions not only individual empowerment but a broader cultural shift toward equity and dignity.

The scholarship will offer needs-based support for one or more of the following: Tuition fees (partial / full amount), basic academic necessities, expenses for travel, accommodation, meals, necessary tools for learning (for candidates opting for vocational training) and other incidental costs that act as hidden barriers preventing students from accessing and continuing education (subject to a specific maximum amount per person in a year). It will provide support for queer and trans inclusion in educational institutions, academic continuity, skill-based training for livelihood, and pathways into dignified employment.

Scholarship amount and number of scholarships in the first year (2025-26)

This will depend on the funds available. The shortlisted candidates will have to provide information about their needs, and the scholarship amount will be sanctioned based on the prioritised needs subject to the maximum amount. The selected candidates will be able to apply for the scholarship in the subsequent years as well, but selection may not be guaranteed because first-time applicants will be prioritized. At a later stage, the scholarship programme will attempt to generate separate funds for repeat applicants. The first year of the scholarship will be announced anytime all the systems are in place, which in effect may mean during the current academic year or just before the next.

Promotion, outreach, and mentorship

The scholarship programme will accept applications directly from individual candidates. Information about the programme will be widely circulated through Varta Trust’s social media platforms, peer leader networks, and the VEIMF database to ensure broad and open access. Candidates may submit recommendation letters from any appropriate source.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) that work with queer-trans communities in West Bengal may also recommend candidates. If a recommended candidate is selected, the CSO’s role will include contributing to mentorship support.

Mentorship for selected candidates will generally continue for six months to one year, with the possibility of extension based on need, mutual agreement, and feasibility.

Scholarship eligibility

Applicants must be socioeconomically disadvantaged queer or transgender Indian citizens living in West Bengal who have secured or are in the process of securing admission into any of the following in an institution of their choice:

• Higher secondary course (under NEP’s semester system)
• Undergraduate programme (three or four-year course with the NEP’s multiple entry and exit options: Certificate, Diploma, Bachelor’s, or Bachelor’s with Research courses)
• Postgraduate course (under two-year Choice Based Credit System or 4+1-year NEP programme)
• Vocational training course or short-term skill-based certification course instituted by a central or state government body, or a non-government body running a course in affiliation with a government social security scheme
• Student-athletes with verifiable participation in recognized sporting events (district, state, national, or university-level events certified by bodies such as the Sports Authority of India, Association of Indian Universities, or school boards) may also be considered if they want to pursue a sport-related course or a training programme that will help improve their sporting abilities

Selection process

As a first step, candidates will need to fill up an application form along with a reference letter from a CSO or another source with evidence of the candidate’s interest in pursuing a particular course and evidence of their deprivation (barriers) preventing them from pursuing the course. To maintain a fair process, the selection process will be carried out by a scholarship committee set up by Varta Trust, consisting of experts from the fields of education, skilling, livelihood, social security, and queer and transgender community building, apart from representatives from the Trust’s own leadership and senior staff team. The committee will devise detailed selection criteria.

Interview process

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for a face-to-face interview with two or more members of the scholarship committee to assess their personal goals, resources, challenges, and alignment with the scholarship vision. This will be the final step in the selection process. The interviewers will ask the candidates what their needs are according to their priorities. The interviewees will need to be specific about their primary needs and will be asked to provide approximate amounts needed. The committee will prepare a final list of selected candidates based on the selection criteria applied through all the steps of the selection process.

Selected candidates will be issued a final letter of selection, a copy of which they will be requested to sign and return as confirmation of acceptance of the scholarship and their willingness to be in touch with the mentor(s) assigned to them.

Mentoring, monitoring, evaluation

Selected candidates will be assigned one or more mentors from among the scholarship committee to provide them guidance in their learning process and support for negotiating the challenges that may come up in the institution they have enrolled in. This may involve dialogue and sensitization of the institution authorities, but this will depend on feasibility. Mentorship support will be offered at regular intervals for the first six months to one year, but this period can be shorter or longer depending on need, mutual agreement, and feasibility.

Mentorship will also involve monitoring and evaluating the candidates’ progress, and guiding them on spending the funds in a manner that aligns with the original purpose for which the scholarship is granted.

Scholarship dedication

The scholarship programme is being set up in memory of Usha Dhall (1932-2024) and Prakash Chandra Dhall (1928-2007) to honour the friendship, affection and support they extended to many queer and trans individuals – whether in moments of happiness, sadness, or crises – especially during the 1990s and 2000s, the formative period of India’s queer and trans movements. Their warmth and openness to provide space in their home for community meetings, workshops, and gatherings also enabled several queer support initiatives like Counsel Club, Integration Society, SAATHII, and Varta Trust to find their feet and grow into full-fledged collectives and organizations.

By extension, the scholarship also seeks to honour the allyship of all queer and trans supportive parents, family members, friends, and colleagues. In keeping with these principles, the scholarship is being named as the New Dawn Queer-Trans Education Scholarship Programme.

A formal announcement of the scholarship will be made once all the scholarship systems have been finalized. For more details about the programme, please write to Varta Trust at vartablog@gmail.com.