LAHORE In connection with International Day of Disabled Persons, an exclusive function was arranged in the honour of special people under Ghazali Education Trust (GET) and LABARD. According to a press release issued here on Thursday, the purpose behind the function was to highlight the importance of special people and to create awareness in the society. Parliamentarians, including Pervaiz Malik, Munazza Hassan, Shaista Pervaiz Malik, Liaquat Balouch, Dr Amjad Saqib, other political and religious leaders, senior journalists, showbiz celebrities, special educational organisations of private and public sectors, students and the people from every walk of life participated. The special children and the community from the organisations working on special education as well as special children studying in the trust schools established in rural areas participated in the function. The speakers on the occasion said that as water, air, food, clothes and education are the pre-requisites for the survival and the fundamental rights as well, likewise none of the special children can be deprived of the same right. They said that without giving the right of education to the special children, 100 percent literacy rate cannot be achieved. The speakers felt sorry that in the list of the problems faced by a common man, giving due respect and right to education to the special children in the society was at a low pedestal, while these efforts were limited to cities. There is no transparent planning and course of action taken by the state and the society as well in the rural areas. They emphasised to provide equal opportunities to the special people in every walk of life to bridge the gap among different classes in the society. They also paid tribute to such organisations which are busy to make the special people self-sufficient in earning their bread and butter. The speakers demanded to promote synchronised contacts, restoration, education and training of special people especially at village level and also to facilitate them on the basis of kinship at colony, baradri and city level. In the end, the guests distributed gifts and bouquets among the special people. SUPER children: Punjab University Child Welfare Centre (PUCWC) on Thursday observed the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by paying tribute to the victims of Army Public School. According to a press release, a group of special children of PUCWC presented a tableau sketching the cowardly attack on schoolchildren and Pakistan Army’s bravely response to the terrorists. The children gave the message that nation is united against terrorists. The event was organised at the Al Raazi Hall of Undergraduate Studies in which Principal Law College Dr Shazia Qureshi, Dean Faculty of Education Dr Mumtaz Akhtar, PUCWC Principal Ayesha Wajihullah, social worker Raja Munawar, Humaira Bano, Vice-President ASA Dr Abid Hussain Chaudhry, Secretary Dr Mahbbob Hussain, teachers and a large number of special children were present. Addressing the ceremony, Dr Shazia Qureshi said Allah has bestowed special children with special abilities and they are also full of talent. She lauded the performance of the special children who performed various activities on the stage that had attracted a huge applause. Raja Munawar said it was better to call the children with disabilities as super children. Dr Abid Hussain Chaudhry said that mass-scale activities must be organised so that people could know about the abilities of the special children. The children also performed ‘sufi raqs’, Qawali and other activities. Tevta: An MoU signing ceremony between Tevta and Pakistan Leather Competitiveness Improvement Programme (PLCIP) consortium was held at TEVTA Secretariat. According to a press release issued on Thursday, through this MoU, international consultants will be hired for skill up-gradation of TEVTA and industry experts in line with the modern international market requirements. The MoU was signed by Chairperson TEVTA Irfan Qaiser Sheikh and Project Director PLCIP consortium Usman H. Malik. Chief Operating Officer TEVTA Jawad Ahmad Qureshi, Akhtar Abbas Bharwana, Mustafa Kamal Pasha, Amer Hassan, Aisha Qazi, Sarfaz Anwar and other Tevta officers were also present. Representatives from PLCIP Muhammad Younis, Abid Hafeez and Nasir Anwar Sheikh attended the ceremony as well. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, disclosing the details of the MoU, said, Tevta will provide training facilities at its Leather Service Centres located at Gujranwala and Kasur. Training material will be developed with the help of local and international consultants in the fields of genuine leather cutting, shoe upper stitching, shoemaking, leather goods manufacturing, CAD/CAM technology for shoe and leather goods. This MoU will be an open door for Tevta to international linkages of renowned institutions in the leather field, he further added
