The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (Central Act 35 of 2009) was enacted by the Parliament in 2009 to provide for free and compulsory education to all the children of the age of 6-14 years. The Act was published in the Gazette of India on 27th August 2009. Subsequently, the said Act was republished by the Government of Tamil Nadu in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette on 24th February 2010. The said Act came into force with effect from 1st April 2010. 

The Tamil Nadu Government issued a notification (G.O. 174, 08/11/2011) for publication in the Tamil Nadu official gazette. The Notification was brought forward in the year 2011, which should be seen as a progressive step toward ensuring the rights of transgender children. 

The said notification stated that the term “Child belonging to a disadvantaged group” under clause (d) of section 2 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE), hereby “means a child who is an Orphan, or affected with Human Immuno Deficiency Virus or a transgender or a child of a scavenger” in addition to the definition given in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009.   

This initiative by the T.N government could ensure increased literacy rate in the transgender community and would push the children to achieve their dreams. This step would also promote the schools to include transgender child in their classrooms and additionally would also endorse the notions of diversity and inclusion in the education system.