April 5, 2002	Friday	Muharram 21, 1423

KARACHI, April 4: Speakers at the opening ceremony of the First National Seminar on Sign Language and Inclusive Education, on Thursday, highlighted that precious little effort is being made to impart literacy among handicapped children who make about ten per cent of the population.

The three-day seminar is being organized by the Pakistan Association of Deaf and Institute for Educational Development, AKU.

Problems faced by the deaf were highlighted, including the limitations of sign language used here, lack of awareness among the general public regarding help to the deaf and paucity of resources and facilities.

The seminar was inaugurated by Director IED, Dr Sadruddin Pradhan, while Senior Instructor, IED, Debbie Kramer Roy; Laila Dossa of PAD and Muneeb Mansoor, President, PAD, spoke on the occasion.

Saima Khalid, in her presentation, informed that according to official census, about ten per cent of the population is disabled, of whom about ten per cent are hearing-impaired persons.

She informed about her own survey, according to which a majority of the deaf want to attend normal schools and like to see their teachers have knowledge of sign language.

In the bilingual seminar, participants were informed in spoken as well as sigh language.

Laila Dossa informed that though the deaf are handicapped people, they are mentally and physically normal, apart from the sense of hearing that ultimately disables them from speech.

She stressed the need to integrate the deaf in mainstream society, by providing them with skills and jobs. The PAD has established a computer-literacy centre where deaf experts teach IT information via sign language, and is working to establish a deaf park in the city for sports and recreation.

Debbie Kramer informed about the importance of inclusive education, that means to teach children with certain handicaps in normal schools.

Emphasizing the importance of inclusive education, she deplored the fact that in Pakistan, only one per cent of disabled children attend schools, while a majority of the deaf leave schools without learning to read or write.

She called upon the authorities to establish more schools for special children and the importance of inclusive education, without which the target of one hundred per cent literacy cannot be achieved.

Ms Kramer highlighted the role of the IED for promotion of education and said that they cover a wide area ranging from all over Pakistan, to Central Asia and East Africa.

She said that the IED trains teachers from more than 50 schools of Karachi, who send their teachers for different types of training and to learn various modern teaching methods.—PPI