Talking to APP here on Sunday, Asif Shahzad, the founder of The Gender Guardian, opened on April 15 here at DHA, said that school having a faculty of 15 members, has started giving education to around 40 students of the transgender community.

The school was started with the help of exploring future foundation, a non-governmental organisation, he said.

Shahzad said that after the successful opening of the first school in Lahore, two more schools would be established in Karachi and Islamabad.

There is no age limit for admission in The Gender Guardian, he added. To a question, he said that most of the transgender-students had shown their interest in fashion industry including learning about cosmetics, fashion designing, embroidery and stitching while some had also shown interest in graphic designing and culinary skills.

"We designed our courses for them keeping in view of their interest", he added. Official sources from social welfare department said that Lahore and its adjoining areas had a population of roughly 30,000 transgender people.

It is pertinent to mention here the Senate had unanimously approved a bill on March 7, 2018 for the protection of rights of transgenders, empowering them to determine their own gender identity.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2018