Special policies

By Editorial Board
December 04, 2019

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities was marked in Pakistan as in the rest of the world on Tuesday, December 3. Currently, according to the latest count people with disabilities of various kinds make up 13.4 percent of the total population of Pakistan. This means 28 million people. It is believed there may be others who have not been registered or recorded since surveys are not a frequent event and the precise figure could be considerably higher notably in rural areas. In Punjab, 17.9 percent of all children between the ages of 5 and 17 years suffer one or more disability according to the Punjab Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. These disabilities include problems with hearing, vision, communication, comprehension, learning, mobility and emotional control.

Advertisement

It is understood that the Punjab government will be releasing the first ever special education policy 2019 and bringing in changes to address disability within the government schooling system for the first time. We hope this is being organized with the necessary planning. Teaching disabled children, including those who suffer blindness, partial blindness, deafness or other disability is a highly specialized task. It is particularly difficult in mainstream classrooms — although when the right expertise exists bringing able and disable children together can benefit both. We wonder however if there is enough specialized training available to teachers in government schools to handle this challenge.

As is the case in other developing countries we also need more data and reporting about disabled people and students. According to Pakistan’s 1998 population census, the highest prevalence of disabilities recorded was for physical impairment with 18.93 percent of the population suffering from such disabilities. However much more research is needed. It is quite possible that many kinds of disabilities, such as learning or emotional problems, as well as autism or other syndromes of a similar nature are not recognized either by parents or medical teams in settings outside large cities. We then need to do far more to in the first instance accurately monitor and log disabilities of various kinds. Only when this data is available can we proceed further. It is also true that disabled girls are most likely to be out of school or drop out earlier because of social and cultural beliefs. The special education policy of the Punjab government is certainly an excellent idea. We hope that it can be properly implemented and also that previous pledges made to help disabled persons by offering them employment and upholding their rights will be honoured.

Advertisement