Abhishay Basharat a recent graduate Transgender student of BUITEMS said when she got admission in the university, it was very difficult to survive because she was the only one of a kind. At the start of a journey Teachers also faced difficulty when they want to call her in the class. In the first week, she decided to leave her education because of harassment in different languages, but her mom motivates her to face it with bravery. In the beginning, University did not take the issue of harassment or bullying or showing no acceptance by students but in the span of time, they realize that is not good for the environment of educational institutes. She faced the problem of taking a university bus because they don’t know how they treat her, like a male or female, then she sent a legal notice from the Pakistan Federation of Media Council to Vice Chancellor of BUITEMS. VC took notice of that problem and resolve his issue. It takes time but teachers in every department supported her which was very helpful for her to complete her studies. Students of MS of different departments of social sciences contacted her to write their thesis on gender diversity. Architecture department students do their thesis on the topic of “How to create space for transgender community”. Different departments of the institute approached her and said they want to organize awareness sessions about gender base diversity for their students and invited her as a speaker, in which we tell them about laws, rules, regulations, and penalties. The lack of Transgender participation in educational institutes is also a reason to not accept third gender students.

The Balochistan Universities Act 2022 which is applied on all universities of the province stated in their section 5 that universities are open for all persons of any gender and whatever their religion, race, color, class, or creed they all are welcome to the public sector institutes without any discrimination. No person of any gender shall be rejected for the advantages or benefits of the University on the ground of religion, race, class, or creed.

According to the website data of the University of Balochistan (UOB) said that institute offers a student to study in 50 academic departments which are divided into 8 faculties. The actual number of academic staff is 851. There is only one female Dean Miss Dr. Zainab Bibi of the faculty of Management Sciences and the other remaining facilities deans are male. In all 50 departments, there are only 10 female Heads of Departments (HODs) which indicates that 80 percent of heads of departments are male. While on the other side according to the website data of Balochistan University of Information Technology Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), the actual number of academic staff is 617. The actual number of female staff is 162 and the remaining 455 are male staff. BUITEMS offers study in 31 departments which are divided into 6 faculties. The number of female Deans of faculty and associate Dean of faculty is zero. The total number of female Head of Departments (HODs) are just 5. The academic female representation is just 26.25 percent.

Universities or educational institutes globally play their role to promote gender base diversity or gender equality to achieve SDG 5 of the United Nations. The SDG 5 of the united nations is to foster gender base diversity in all sectors and promote women’s empowerment. But more than half of higher education students, women are still underrepresented as lecturers, officer ranks, leaders or researchers stated by Times Higher Education. According to Higher Education Digest in their publication of March 8, 2022, Teachers or Professors play a vital role in promoting gender base diversity in our schools, colleges, and universities. Gender equality in and through education teaches and educates you on the necessity of gender base diversity in making policies, budgets, curriculum, plans and allowing everyone to participate in it regardless of the thought that he/she is a man or woman.

According to the Assistant Professor Sadaf of the Media and Journalism department of the University of Balochistan UOB, there are 2 Females Professors and 7 Male professors in the media and journalism department of UOB. In response to the question about the necessity of gender base diversity in our institutes and what is the teachers role in this regard she said that in universities knowledge should be delivered and as a teacher or mentors we can bring change in the mindsets of students through our mentoring process. Teachers or Professors themselves being an example for students if they mentor their students without gender discrimination or any other kind of discrimination. Miss Sadaf said as a public sector institute UOB fosters gender base diversity without any discrimination.

Miss Anqa Gharshin the lecturer of the Department of Psychology at BUITEMS replied to the question about the importance of gender base diversity in institutions, she said that it’s a fight till people from all gender have equal chances and opportunities to get quality education, scholarships, jobs, especially jobs in a position of power where they too can participate in decision making processes and policy making and their implementation. We have seven female and five male lecturers in our psychology department. I believe our university is very diverse when it comes to student’s gender vise, we have a good number of girls studying in our university, and recently we have graduated a student who is a transgender. But we certainly need more diversity in powerful positions of the university, especially in deanships, upper management, administration etc and I think we all have to work for it.

Mr. Tariq Khattak the Head of the Mass Communication department at Balochistan University of Information Technology Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS) said that our institute is one of those institutes who promotes gender base diversity or gender equality. Advertisement of new hirings in BUITEMS is for all genders without any discrimination. In reply to the question about the women’s participation, he stated that every academic department of the institute gives equal opportunities to the women students for competitions, workshops, exposure visits, and extracurricular activities. University welcomes every gender warmly whether they are applying for a job or want to take an admission and wages for male and female are equal without any discrimination. If we talk about the interest females take admission more than boys in the departments of social sciences instead of engineering and information technology departments. In response to the question about the participation of Transgenders in the institute, he said that we also warmly welcome transgender in our institute. The recent pass out batch is an example of our generosity for all genders without any discrimination. They are special to us and as well as they have a good academic record. The environment of BUITEMS is very friendly for all genders.

An anonymous source from UOB said that the total number of teaching faculty staff in our institute is 475. An actual number of female teaching staff is 161 and the remaining staff are male. Deans and the HODs are made on a seniority basis. There are only 6 to 7 female professors out of 36 therefore males are more as deans. He said No transgender student or staff is in our institute as per my knowledge. But yes gender based diversity is important in educational institutions. UOB does not discourage any transgenders from taking admission in any programs. Manzoor Hussain Director of Student Affairs and Academics from BUITEMS said that BUITEMS offers admissions to all the candidates who qualify for its requirements announced for each discipline regardless of creed color race or gender. If any candidate is a male or female, or a transgender, the university provides a full opportunity for learning and education to all, providing them confidence to meet the academic requirements of the university.