The transgender community gets its first school in Bangladesh by a religious charity. The members of the hijras community face widespread discrimination in the conservative Muslim society and lives in extreme poverty. Abandoned by their families, most of the hijras are sent out from their homes at a young age. Lack of formal education and the conservative society forces them either to beg or to involve in sex work.

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Abdur Rahman Azad, one of clerics who transformed the top floor of a three-storey building into the madrasa, an Islamic religious school, said, ""People who are transgender are also human beings, they too have a right to education, to live a dignified life". The students in the school will learn to read the Quran and the basic principles of Islam along with Bengali, English, maths and receive some vocational training. "We have a plan to open schools for them across the country so that no one is deprived of education. We are starting with just over 100 students, who will learn Islamic and vocational subjects. We wish to turn them into human resources".

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An estimate by the Government says 10,000 hijras lives in Bangladesh but figure by the rights group says 1.5 million people lives in Bangladesh. "I'm so thrilled. This school is a beacon of hope," said Sona Solani, 30, a student at the new school. She added, "I want to show the society that we can stand as equals and prove that we're not limited to begging, that our lives are much bigger than that". 

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