December 4, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 8, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: First Lady Begum Sehba Musharraf on Wednesday said special children had the ability to excel in any field of life if provided with adequate facilities and opportunities.

“The need is to give them better education facilities and a disable-friendly environment to enable them to take part in the development of the country,” the First Lady emphasized.

She was speaking at the opening ceremony of the hostel for disabled students at National Special Education Centre for Hearing Impaired Children here. The event was organised to mark the International Day for Disabled falling on December 3.

Begum Sehba Musharraf said the International Day for Disabled called upon everybody to work for the welfare of disabled people, which also was the legal and constitutional responsibility of every person as per International Convention for the Rights of Children.

She said the government’s policy on disabled was a step towards betterment of this neglected segment of society. “Declaring Islamabad and the provincial capitals as disabled- friendly cities is a commendable step that would provide them with an easy access to every field.”

Advisor to Prime Minister on Women Development, Social Welfare and Special Education Nilofar Bakhtiar told the participants that very soon a bill would be moved in the National Assembly to increase jobs quota for the disabled from the existing one per cent to two per cent.

She argued that there was dire need to do a lot more for the special children but limited resources were hindering the advancing steps of the government in this regard. She said the government alone could not do this job and needed the help of the private sector.

“I invite the public sector, be it NGOs, philanthropists or the God-fearing people to help the government in taking care of special children,” she said. As a joint venture of Women Ministry and HWNCS, the hostel is an excellent example of public-private partnership, Ms Bakhtiar said.

She said the government aimed to bring changes at the grass- roots level and had declared Islamabad and the provincial capitals of country as disabled-friendly cities. For this purpose, the ministry has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Capital Development Authority to initially launch a pilot project in the Capital.

Under this Memorandum of Understanding, every new building in the city would be constructed in such a way that it facilitated the disabled community, she said.