World Braille Day observed

LAHORE : World Braille Day was observed throughout the country on Monday. Braille is a code consisting of symbols, written in the form of raised dots. It added immense value to the lives of the visually-impaired.

It is pertinent mention that World Braille Day is observed on 4th January every year because it’s the birthday of Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille system.

Unfortunately, visually impaired people in Punjab do not have access to books in Braille. Braille has been included in article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a form of necessitating “education, freedom of expression and opinion, as well as social inclusion”.

General Secretary Pakistan Association for the Blind, Usman has written several letters to the Special Education Department since 2018 for the provision of books in Braille to the visually impaired children in Jhang but the requests were always turned down. “Braille books are not even there in government schools for the blind,” Usman says from Jhang.

Dr Saqib appointed PHC CEO: Former federal secretary and retired senior civil servant Dr Saqib Aziz has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC).

He has assumed the charge of his office on Monday. Dr Saqib Aziz has over 30 years of experience in the fields of public sector management and general administration.

A graduate of the Nishtar Medical College Multan, Chevening Scholar and Chevening Fellow, Dr Aziz has done his Masters from the London School of Economics in social policy and planning for developing countries.

With a vast experience of working from policy-making level as federal secretary to policy-implementation tiers of the district administration, Dr Saqib Aziz has provided administrative supervision to government ministries and departments in matters pertaining to strategic planning, system reforms, human resource development and capacity building. He has also worked as project director of various government projects and with the Asian Development Bank as a Capacity Building Consultant.