Kathmandu: Thirteen-year-old Lalit Rawal’s admission in Durbar High School today in Grade VII would have been like any other admission, except that Rawal happened to be a third gender from Jugada- 9 of Bajura.

Dhananjaya Yadav, principal of the school, said Rawal would be admitted and allowed to attend classes from tomorrow.

Sunil Babu Pant, a Constituent Assembly member and the founder of Blue Diamond Society, said Rawal was born as a girl in a large family of eight daughters and a son.

“Rawal was the fourth child and among the group of daughters in the family, she always wanted to look like and behave like a son.”

According to Pant, since her behaviour and activities were such that they contradicted the expectations from her gender, her friends used to tease her and hurt her emotionally.

“It was a painful experience for her, therefore, she could not concentrate on studies.

After completion of Grade VI last year, she left Shree Choyakot Lower Secondary School in Bajura district and would have stopped studying for want of a right environment,” he said.

One of Rawal’s relatives in Kathmandu contacted Blue Diamond Society and with Pant’s support, Rawal was taken to the school for admission.

Pant lamented the government was not able to address such issues though there were many such cases across the country. “Last week, Education Minister Ganga Lal Tuladhar had pledged to send circular to schools to end discrimination against third gender, but nothing happened,” he added. Pant said not every one has the resources to come to Kathmandu and study here. He urged the government to create an environment in every part of the country for third gender children.

source: Himalayan News Service(2011),"School opens door for third gender  ", The Himalayan Times, 13 July 2011