Education for all

While the transgender community in the country has been given additional rights under the constitution of Pakistan since 2018, including the right to equal treatment as Pakistani citizens, the right to vote and the right to be granted jobs, they remain a community which is hugely marginalised and deprived of basic necessities. In one attempt to amend the situation, the Punjab government has begun a special programme for transgender persons, in which classes will be held for them at government schools for girls after the regular first shift in the morning. The pilot project has begun in Multan, and according to Punjab Education Minister Murad Ras will then be extended to other parts of the province. It is hoped that this will be the first step towards bringing transgender persons education and the consequent benefits they deserve.

Education is always useful, and especially essential for marginalised communities that continue to be deprived of jobs, despite the law which states they need to be granted jobs on the same basis as other citizens, and on a priority basis where appropriate. The education programme also provides for vocational training for transgender persons in various fields on the basis that this would increase their prospects of getting jobs. At present, persons who identify as transgender have few employment options and generally end up performing at weddings etc to earn a livelihood. But the problem as a whole runs much deeper. Anyone who does not conform to the accepted ‘norm’ is regarded as being someone who can be abused and left out in the cold.

While the education programme is a good start, much more has to be done. We need to gradually change the way in which people think and to bring communities that are neglected into the mainstream. This can only happen if people learn to accept others as they are. One by one, the mindsets that have existed for decades must change so that transgender persons all over the country can be brought into mainstream life and given jobs in various sectors. At present, apart from the attacks which take place on them from time to time, they are also denied jobs and held back from gaining employment or other benefits due to them under the law of the land.