The Gender Guardian, Pakistan’s first ever school for transgenders, is an institution that strives to provide quality education and training to transgenders across Pakistan. The institute seeks to empower the transgender community by attempting to equip transgender students with skills required to gain employment. Formal education as well as vocational training in courses such as cooking, stitching and driving are offered at the school.

Pakistan’s transgender community has long been victim to institutional and social marginalization. By giving members of the community opportunities to hone their skills, and further their ambitions of formal education, The Gender Guardian wishes to challenge social prejudices against transgenders. Our vision is clear-cut: facilitating the empowerment of one of Pakistan’s most marginalized communities.

According to Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, education is a fundamental human right. Categorizations on the basis of background, identity, class, or gender are insignificant when it comes to deciding who this right is available to, because after all, regardless of all distinctions, we are all inherently human. In the society we live in today, ‘equality’ seems like an unachievable ideal. The team at The Gender Guardian hopes to make the myth of meritocracy and equality true for Pakistan’s transgender community.

Our mandate is simple: make education, a fundamental human right, accessible to the transgender community, in an attempt to empower them.