LAHORE: The Punjab police in collaboration with a British organisation has laid foundation of the first-ever primary English-medium school and vocational training institute in Lahore for the ‘abandoned transgender kids’ with a prime objective of eliminating the decades-old ‘guru culture’ prevailing in the transgender community.

Both sides have planned O and A level education and training to help support the transgender children following reports that approximately 80 per cent of them were abandoned by their parents to avoid criticism by relatives and the society, and they were later left to be adopted by the ‘gurus.’

The police experts believed that the trans children used to become vulnerable to begging, drug and sexual crime when they fell prey to the ‘guru system.’

The Punjab police planned establishment of first such education and training facility named ‘Tahafuz Darsgah’, in collaboration with the UK Curriculum and Accreditation Body (UKCAB) at Jallo in Lahore cantonment area over a four-kanal land.

Punjab IG Dr Usman Anwar laid the foundation stone of the building here on Thursday, setting the Feb 5 deadline for making it functional.

Six to 18 years old children to be admitted to institute having six classrooms

The IG and chairman of the UKCAB also signed a memorandum of understanding.

From the UK-based organisation, Zahid Bhatti, Nabil Amir, Abdullah Mushtaq and Asad Ali Malik attended the event while Punjab Safe City Managing Director Ahsan Yunus, Lahore Operations DIG Ali Nasir Rizvi, Chief Traffic Officer Ammara Athar and Gulberg ASP Sheharbano represented the police.

According to the agreement, the UK organisation will bear all the expenses for the education and training of the transgender children where they will be imparted O and A level education.

“Keeping in view the hardships they have to face, the Punjab police have approved establishment of the first primary level school and vocational training centre near Jallo”, Gulberg ASP Sheharbano told Dawn.

As per the plan, she said, the Punjab police would enroll the transgender children from the age of six to 18.

They would get quality education and training at the school which would house initially six classrooms, the ASP said.

She said the Punjab police would prefer qualified transgender women to be hired as female teachers.

Another important development is that the transgender school children would have ‘mothers’ to be looked after on the pattern of the system adopted by the SOS Children’s Village (schools).

As per the master plan, the Punjab police will take primary education to the university level in the next phase where the transgender students would get higher education too to become an integral part of the society.

To a question, the ASP said the Punjab police would take help from its website to get access to the trans children and encourage the parents to enroll them for education in the school.

Similarly, the police would also take help from the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau from where the trans children would be given the opportunity to get education in the school.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2024