School for trans community shut
The caretaker government of Punjab has closed the only school established for transgender persons in Lahore.
The government high school located in Barkat Market has reportedly been closed down due to unavailability of funds, leaving the transgender community disappointed.
The previous government had started the first school for transgender students in Lahore in December last year with the aim of teaching various skills to the members of the community along with traditional education.
Classes were held in the school from 10am to 12pm.
Two well-known members of the community in Lahore, Guru Ashi Butt and Neeli Rana, were hired to attract students.
The school education authorities had agreed to pay a monthly stipend to the two transgender coordinators.
However, after three months, their contract has not been extended, due to which the coordinators have also stopped working.
Coordinator Neeli Rana told The Express Tribune, “Our job was to approach transgender community and encourage them to take up education and skills. We used to leave home at seven in the morning, meet transgender persons and try to persuade them to get education and skills instead of begging and dancing.”
Neeli Rana said the school education department had initially signed a three-month contract with her. She used to bring students from their homes to the school. Similarly, services of focal person Ashi Jan had been hired.
Rana said Jan had been paid the stipend for only two months and she for three months.
After that, the stipend was stopped and the contract wwas not extended.
Neeli Rana said that the dreams that she had showed the transgender community members and the hope that had awakened in their hearts have all been shattered. She said her reputation within the community had also been affected.
In the one-of-a-kind school, besides traditional education, transgender persons were being taught cooking, make-up and tailoring skills as well to help them gain decent employment.
The teachers were not only trained but also taught psychological counseling so that they could better understand the people of the community.
According to former provincial minister for school education Murad Raas, the school had been set up because transgender persons were not given opportunities for education, employment or anything else. The earliest schools for transgender community in Punjab had been first opened in Multan, followed by Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur. There were about 40 transgender students in the school in Lahore. Besides pick and drop, monthly stipend was also offered to the students but the classes in the school have been stopped for more than a month.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2023.