KARACHI, Nov 15: Over one hundred handicapped children were entertained by music, songs and food at a function in a seaside restaurant, on Thursday.

The function was organized by noted social worker Jimmy Engineer.

The Ida Rieu School and College for the Blind and Deaf and the Shaheed-i-Millat Special School for the Blind each sent 25 visually impaired students; while Pak Rehabilitation Education and Welfare Association and Quaideen Special School for Mentally Retarded sent 30 and 25 mentally retarded students.

Jimmy Engineer citing examples of the recently announced results of the intermediate examinations said that handicapped children had proved that given equal opportunities they were able to give good or in some cases even better results than their normal counterparts.

He expressed concern that the job quota fixed for the handicapped people was not being implemented properly. He demanded to increase the quota and implement it effectively so that the handicapped could also become productive members of the society and play their role in its progress.

He lauded the services of the teachers and caretakers associated with various organizations for providing teaching and trainings facilities to the handicapped and said that they were doing an unusual work by grooming the special people not only making them confident but also teaching them various trades and functions.

He said that he was trying to line up at least 25 to 30 elite restaurants and hotels to entertain 100 handicapped children once a month, so that around 2,500 to 3,000 handicapped children could be taken out and had fun at least once a month.

An old student and now the music teacher at the Ida Rieu, Saleem Qureshi, and his two students Tasneem Maqbool and Zahida Fareed — all visually impaired — presented national and folk songs.

Stage artiste Farzana Naz, who has volunteered to perform at all such functions held for the handicapped people, also performed on the occasion.

A large number of special children danced to the music and enjoyed over the three-hour function.

Children'S walk: Hundreds of special children and other people, on Thursday, took part in a walk organized in connection with the child rights’ week being celebrated by the Madadgaar, a joint venture of Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid and Unicef, adds PPI.