ISLAMABAD, Apr 06 (APP): President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday called for developing a curriculum for differently-abled students to effectively cater to their special educational requirements.
He emphasised that the curriculum should also focus on the behavioural change of the society towards differently-abled people (DAPs) to support and facilitate them as they had been facing many hardships in their daily lives, including negative attitudes and discrimination.
In order to financially empower the DAPs, the president urged the need for promptly filling their job quota by the federal and provincial governments, besides equipping them with employable skills.
The president made these remarks while chairing a follow-up meeting on the facilitation of persons with disabilities (PWDs), at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training; Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination; Ministry of Human Rights; National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC); National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA); Federal Directorate of Education; Directorate of Special Education; Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal; UNICEF; National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM); World Health Organization (WHO) and Capital Development Authority (CDA).
The secretaries of the social welfare departments of the provincial governments as well as the Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan governments attended the meeting via video-link.
The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training official informed that the ministry would launch the first phase of the teacher training programme comprising 120 teachers in May 2023 to better cater to the educational needs of PWDs.
The representative of the Sindh Government apprised that they had completed six teacher training programmes at the divisional level for promoting inclusive education for PWDs.
The president appreciated the teacher training programmes of the Federal and Sindh governments for children with disabilities.
The NADRA chairman briefed the meeting about the steps taken by NADRA for the facilitation of PWDs.
He informed that free of charge Special CNICs were being provided to PWDs and NADRA teams were visiting the residences of DAPs in Islamabad and Rawalpindi for their registration.
He added that the same service would also be extended to the cities of Lahore and Karachi.
It was further informed that NADRA had organized 42 sessions to sensitize their employees to deal with the DAPs in a better way.
He further highlighted that a separate feature in NADRA helpline was being included for the facilitation of PWDs.
It was also highlighted that the Ministry of Human Rights and NAVTTC had held meetings with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to design skill-sets for the DAPs according to the market needs for their job placement.
The president remarked that a dynamic master list of skills/trades for PWDs should also be prepared.
The meeting was also briefed about various benefits being offered to the DAPs by the provincial governments.
The president advised that benefits being offered to the DAPs needed to be listed and tabulated.
