Pakistan Opens State-Run School for Transgender Students and Teachers

Pakistan has opened a government-run school for transgender women, a trailblazing initiative that allows transgender students to learn from transgender educators. The institution, located in the city of Multan, is part of a state-operated program called TransEducation. Serving grades one through 12, the school currently has 18 students enrolled.

In Pakistan, transgender people face high rates of violence -- according to Them, 62 transgender women were murdered in the country between 2015 and 2018. In September 2020, transgender activist Gul Panra was shot and killed in Peshawar. Human rights activists have lauded Pakistan's new school as a much-needed space for transgender students to focus on their studies without the harassment they often experience at other institutions."I feel all my dreams will come true from now on," one student told Geo News.

In 2019, Pakistan's Lodhran district welcomed a similar school, established by the city's literacy department. In May 2021, Rani Khan, a 34-year-old transgender woman, used her life savings to open the country's first madrasa -- an Islamic religious school -- for trans students.

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