The Punjab School Education Department (SED) is finally ready to inaugurate Lahore’s first government school for transgender students.
Minister for School Education Murad Raas inaugurated the school in Garden Town near Barket Market. Several educationists, rights activists and transgender persons took part in the ceremony.
The plan for the school was originally formulated in March of this year. The Government Girls High School in Barkat Market was supposed to be converted to a transgender-exclusive school.
It was originally supposed to open by the start of October and enroll 210 transgender students. It was also announced that the school will be multi-class.
The preparations to convert the public school could not be completed due to the lack of funding besides the alleged incompetence of the District Education Authority, and the project was thus delayed.
Three transgender schools are already in operation in Multan, Bahawalpur, and DG Khan, where students are educated from 2 to 5 p.m. in existing school buildings. However, establishing a transgender-exclusive school in the provincial capital was a one-of-a-kind project.
Finally, the SED has said that it will inaugurate the school on Wednesday (today), at Government Girls High School, Barkat Market, Garden Town