Pakistan launches first school for transgender people

Pakistan: teacher Eeman (L) takes selfie with students on the first day of the first transgender school in Lahore
AFP/Getty Images
Chloe Chaplain24 April 2018

Pakistan has opened its first school specialising in education for transgender people.

The school launched in the city of Lahore, in the Punjab province, with 30 students enrolled.

The institution, called The Gender Guardian, marks a historic move in the country which has already made headlines for its progressive attitude towards transgender people.

A news channel in the same city recently announced it had hired the country's first transgender TV anchor Maavia Malik who attended the launch of the school alongside transgender activists.

Launch: 'The Gender Guardian' school opened in April
AFP/Getty Images

The school, that opened on April 15, offers 12 years of education from primary level to college, it has been reported.

It also offers technical and vocational courses for those who don’t want to pursue an academic route. There is no upper age limit for students.

The school was launched by the NGO Exploring Future Foundation (EFF).

Managing Director Moizzah Tariq said the aim was to “provide skill-based training and curriculum to the transgender community that has enrolled with us.”

Pakistan's first transgender news anchor Marvia Malik
AFP/Getty Images

He added: “Most of them have shown interest in sectors of the fashion industry including learning about cosmetics, fashion designing, embroidery, and stitching while some have also shown interest in graphic designing and culinary skills.

“Having gained information from them first we designed our courses for them."

He said he decided to begin the project after seeing a bomb attack at a transgender school in Indonesia.

“I was moved after seeing the bomb blast in Indonesia in 2016 at a transgender school,” he told a local news agency.

“It was the only such school in any Islamic country in the world. After that we decided to provide them education and bring them to the mainstream.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in