February 03, 2007	Saturday	Muharram 14, 1428

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

RAWALPINDI, Feb 2: The future of 84 physically handicapped children studying at Al-Ghazali Centre for Physically Handicapped Children has been put at stake, as the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education has directed the centre to vacate the Al-Farabi Special Education Complex and move to any place in Rawalpindi.

Al-Ghazali Centre, recently upgraded from primary to middle, had been moved into Al-Farabi Complex when its building located behind the Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi, was destroyed by the 2001 flash floods. The centre was shifted to the complex on the instructions of Federal Minister for Special Education Zobaida Jalal and it was functioning there since then.

The students are feared to be thrown out soon, as the management of Al-Farabi Special Education Complex has served a series of notices on the principal of the centre, asking him to move the centre to any place in Rawalpindi.

There are now only four rooms at the disposal of the centre to accommodate 84 handicapped students and 35-member staff including academics. After moving from Rawalpindi to Al-Farabi Complex, the centre was given a building of 12 rooms and recently it was shifted to another block consisting of four rooms which was insufficient to accommodate this large number of students and the teaching and supporting staff.

The step-motherly treatment being meted out to the handicapped students negates the government’s national policy for persons with disabilities as well as human rights. The Ministry of Social Welfare publicly claims Islamabad to be the first disable-friendly city in the country; however, its attitude towards the centre completely negates its claim.

Al-Farabi Complex comes under the administrative control of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education offices of which, including the federal minister’s, are also located there. The ministry is behind the move for dislocating Al-Ghazali Centre, as it needs additional rooms.

This correspondent tried to speak to the senior officials of the ministry to seek their views on the issue. However, Secretary Naeem Khan was not in his office, while Director-General Sarfaraz Syed and directors concerned were either on leave or on ‘official tours’.

Luckily, this reporter managed to access deputy director in charge of the centers to seek his comments on the issue. The official said that he was not competent to comment on the subject but admitted that the ministry wanted Al-Ghazali Centre to vacate Al-Farabi Complex as soon as possible. The official disclosed that the Ministry of Social Welfare had written to the railways ministry to accommodate the centre.

When this correspondent contacted Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmad to seek his comments, he denied that his ministry had ever received any such communication from the Ministry of Social Welfare.

The principal has so far been unable to find a 12-room building in Rawalpindi to accommodate the centre. “It is absolutely impossible to find a 12-room building at the monthly rent of Rs40,000,” said an official of Al-Farabi Complex.

Under the National Policy for Persons with Disabilities, the role of the federal government is important in meeting the needs of the persons with disabilities. The present level of support provided by the federal government in the field of education and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities is to be enhanced under the policy.

In this endeavor, joint efforts were to be ensured by the ministries concerned like education, health, labour and manpower, and culture and sports in addition to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education.