The Japanese ministry of education Thursday (30 April) issued a notice to local education boards urging schools to do more for transgender students.

Some schools already allow transgender children to wear the uniform of the gender they identify as. But the notice encourages all schools to do so — from elementary level to high school — as well as letting them use the bathroom and locker room of their choice.

The document also says gay and lesbian students deserve greater accommodation.

‘It’s a very important step,’ Mameta Endo, a transgender man who suffered discrimination at school, told the Japan Times.

Now 28, he said his teachers forced him to wear skirts and told him his gender dysphoria was a result of watching TV.

Endo said he had many transgender friends who dropped out of school due to pressure to conform, and hopes the measure will reduce the number of such students.

‘Ten years ago, when I came out, teachers didn’t take it seriously,’ he said.

In a 2012 document, the education ministry urged schools to care for transgender students but stopped short setting out specific measures. Moreover, no mention of sexual minorities was made.

In June 2014, the ministry revealed that schools nationwide had recognized 606 students as transgender, but noted the actual number was probably much higher as LGBTI students often have difficulty coming out.

The move comes amid growing awareness of sexual minorities in Japan.

Last month, Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward became the first local government in the conservative country to recognize same-sex unions as ‘equivalent to marriage.’