A residential school for transgender people has been opened in the Indian city of Kochi, to help adults who dropped out of school finish their education.
Transgender people can face judgement and hostility in India, and around half of them fail to complete their schooling as a result.
Sahaj International is the first school of its kind in India.
It will welcome 10 pupils, aged 25-50.
The students will be prepared for India’s Class 10 and 12 board exams, normally sat when students are aged 15-16 or 17-18 respectively. The curriculum will also include some vocational skills.
Transgender activist Vijayraja Mallika, who heads the school, told the BBC: “The school aims at making transgenders eligible for taking decent jobs and living a dignified life.”
“We have admitted six candidates so far, all male-to-female persons, from 14 applicants. Of the 10 seats, we have reserved one for female-to-male and one for the disabled.”
The school is in Kerala, which is the first Indian state to adopt a transgender policy against discrimination. It promotes inclusive education, and offers free gender reassignment surgery at government hospitals.
The centre’s organisers said they had arranged sponsors for all the students, to pay for their food, accommodation and studies.
The teachers also belong to the transgender community – a measure designed to protect and encourage the pupils.
The decision comes after India’s first transgender college principal, Manabi Bandopadhyay, resigned from her post claiming that some of her students and fellow teachers had agitated against her because of her sexual identity.