Education is very important for certain job profiles for other vocational jobs
Students of Welingkar Institute of Management have developed
a community centre which will focus on creating work opportunities for the transgender
community. According to their research, although transgender people exhibit
employable skills, lack of social acceptance and almost no employment opportunities
force them into sex work or begging.
Ronak Gandhi, a student who is part of the group that developed the module states,
"We discovered that transgender people are eager to be employed and found private
companies who have no qualms in hiring them. However, they do not get any applications
from this community."
This prompted the students to envision a place that would act as a meeting ground
for employers and transgender people seeking employment.
"Although education is very important for certain job profiles for other vocational
jobs, only some grooming is required," said Gandhi. However, while companies mention
that 'public behaviour' would play an important role in their decision to hire a
transgender person, almost 100% of transgender people interviewed categorically
stated that they would not give up their identity. "We decided to start a grooming
section at the community centre where those interested can be groomed to help them
land a job," said Gandhi.
Based on a social entrepreneurship model, the centre will be profit-oriented. "The
profits will be used to create more centres so that more transgender people can
make use of this facility," said Gandhi.
The current centre is being operated by those in the transgender community. The
business module has won at the Mumbai region level in the international Students
in Free Enterprise (SIFE) competition.
Courtesy: DNA India
