LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has announced the establishment of a transgender school at division level and also directed the relevant authorities to provide educational facilities to special children in at least one government school in each district.

These decisions were ta­­ken at a meeting held to re­­­view proposed school education reforms in the province.

While chairing the revi­­ew meeting, CM Nawaz said: “Schools for trans­ge­nder [community] will be established at divisional level.”

Interestingly, nine of the 11 divisions in Punjab already had schools for the transgender community in the past. The initiative was taken by the previous PTI government under the supervision of the then Punjab Minister for School Education Murad Raas.

Eight of 11 divisions already have such schools, established by previous govt

When contacted, Trans Educational School Sys­t­­em, Multan, Principal Ali­sha Sherazi told Dawn that no one from the government had contacted them for the establishment of transgender schools, as such schools already exis­ted in D.G. Khan, Gujran­wala, Rawalpindi, Sargo­dha, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Multan and Bahawalpur. Only the one established in Lahore was later closed, she added.

Alisha Sherazi, a trans­gender and a former cons­u­ltant of UNDP who did her MPhil in Education, Planning and Manage­m­ent from Burhanuddin Za­­kariya University, expl­ai­ned that three of the scho­ols including D.G. Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur were giving vocational tr­­a­ining to members of the transgender community. Four labs for IT, stitching, cooking and make-up classes were established in those schools, while other schools were focusing on academics, according to the principal.

The government did not have the exact figures of transgender community’s population in the Punjab, Alisha added.

At the meeting, CM Maryam Nawaz directed relevant officials to implement a new comprehensive procedure, in line with the international best practices, for the selection of CEOs, DEOs, and DDEOs in each district.

She also took notice of delay in the delivery of textbooks to schools. How­ever, the officials present at the meeting assured the chief minister that textbooks would be provided to all schools by May. They said the supply of 41 per cent textbooks had alrea­­dy been completed. She was told that from next year, textbooks would be made available at schools by February.

They also presented the CM a new storybook on en­­vironmental pollution and climate change for schools.

Minister for School Education Rana Sikandar Hayat, senior minister Mar­riyum Aurangzeb, inf­ormation minister Azma Zahid Bukhari, Senator-elect Pervaiz Rashid, MPA Sania Ashiq, chief secretary and other relevant of­­ficers attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2024