BAHAWALPUR: The South Punjab Education Department has opened a school for the transgender community in the city.

The school has been opened in a portion of the Government Girls High School, Canal Colony.

This is the first school for the community in Bahawalpur and the second in south Punjab. The local education department had opened the first transgender school in Multan last year.

South Punjab Education Secretary Dr Ehtehsam Anwar Mahar inaugurated the school at a ceremony. He said that in order to bring the transpersons in the mainstream, it was government’s top priority to provide them education. He expressed hope that members of the transgender community after acquiring education would be able to serve the country by playing an effective role.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sara Gill lauded the secretary’s initiative of introduction of transpersons’ education in Multan and Bahawalpur. She said it was a feather in the cap of south Punjab education secretariat. She expressed the hope that new vistas for the welfare of the community would be opened.

She told the community members that now it was their collective responsibility that after acquiring education, they should become a role model for their community and society as a whole. The community members, she said, should study to become doctors, engineers and academics to contribute to society.

Alisha Shirazi, transgender manager of the school education department, South Punjab, also spoke.

District Education Authority Chief Executive Officer Zahoor Ahmed Chohan said the school had been opened in three rooms of the high school and 14 transpersons had been admitted there. He said the students had also been provided books and bags for their studies.

The transgender students recited the Holy Quran and Na’at which was appreciated by the audience.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2022