By: Rameen Kashif
Quratlain, an international badminton player having bagged a silver medal in China, was born with hearing impairment. However, she did not let her disability outweigh her abilities, and went far and beyond to achieve her dreams. This was only possible due to the assistance of her teachers, at Rising star and welfare society Pakistan. Yet, it is with despair that such abilities do not come in handy to every disabled individual in Pakistan.
Pakistan, a country with a population of 212 million, with nearly 45% of the population being under 18 years of age. Out of these, there are statistically 1.4 million children with disabilities ranging from deafness and blindness to speech impairment. However, there are only 282 schools present in Pakistan for the assistance of these children.
Regardless, Pakistan still lacks in trained professionals to provide services in this sector. There are lack of speech therapists, psychologists, and occupational therapists to contribute to the mental enrichment of these children. Moreover, the prevalence of poor access to resources in rural areas also acts as a hindrance in improving the present situation. In the province of Sindh alone, out of a population of 180,000, 5.5 out of 1000 children under 2 years were diagnosed with disabilities. Today, only 10.5 percent schools in Sindh report children with disability. While throughout the country only 7 percent of private schools have disability friendly toilets, and 2 percent have ramps.
Pakistan is a country, home to every single individual who resides here, irrespective of their culture, history or religion. It is a country which stands on the pillars of non-discrimination and equal rights as portrayed by its national flag. Despite this, it provides lack of funding for less-able individuals. There is no exclusive budget allocated to special needs education. In order to ensure that children with disabilities have the same high quality education as everyone else, it is pivotal to ensure that proper mechanism is provided, which could only be achieved by exclusive allocation of budget. In 2016, UNICEF launched a document entitled Making schools accessible for children with disabilities. This document puts forward recommendations for making schools more friendly for special children through introducing ramps, skid-free tiled floors, handrails on stairs, and more in the accessibility checklist. Nonetheless, according to ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) Pakistan 2021, only 100 out of 40,000 government schools have disability friendly facilities, while 86 out of 1600 private schools cater to these needs of disabled individuals.
Today, thousands of disabled children are out of schools and their voices are unheard. Being deprived of education, a human right, against your will is heart-wrenching. A country could lack in anything; but providing its natives with the best opportunities to grow and thrive. The governmental organizations should take enough measures to uphold the lives and the future of the disabled young, to whom they owe this to.
