PESHAWAR, April 13: Disabled people have been deprived of job opportunities as the provincial government has not enforced what is believed to be a mandatory two per cent job quota for them.
Government departments are usually reluctant to employ the disabled, being unsure about their capabilities. Many departments are not following the policy of fixing 2 per cent job quota for them, officials said.
The former president Zia-ul-Haq, who had a mentally-retarded daughter, had allocated one per cent job quota for handicapped persons in government departments through an ordinance in 1981. Later, the 1998 census revealed that the number of disabled persons was much higher so the Nawaz Sharif government increased the job quota from one to two per cent.
The data of the directorate of social welfare revealed that out of total population of the NWFP of 17,735,912 some 375,448 (2.12 per cent) are disabled people.
The disability population analysis of the NWFP shows that 7.44 per cent are mentally retarded, 8.11 per cent having more than one disability and 31.70 per cent are crippled. Other disabled persons are blind (7.02 per cent), deaf and mute (7.6 per cent), insane (5.9 per cent).
Being physically disadvantaged, disabled persons face lack of higher educational facilities.
“Usually disabled persons are less qualified to be suitable candidates for high level posts,” an official said giving the reason for lack of employment opportunities in the public sector despite a fixed job quota for disabled persons.
Miss Saira Qadir, 28, who is handicapped, has done her master’s in International Relations. She complained that she could not get a government job even after various attempts.
Deaf people can avail educational facilities till middle school in the NWFP but in other provinces like Punjab they can get education up to the graduate level, officials said.
Sibghat-ur-Rehman, who runs the Rehabilitation Centre for the Physically Disabled in Peshawar, rejected this and said that in many cases highly-qualified disabled persons were deprived of job opportunities as government departments were not ‘disabled-friendly’.
He said the government fears that disabled persons might not perform their duties as other employees.
He said usually the government does not advertise the posts for disabled persons and even if it does advertise, it gives preference to people with minor disabilities over those with major disabilities.
He said: “Peshawar was declared disabled-friendly two years ago by the wife of a former governor but no practical steps have been taken to create a disabled-person-friendly environment.”
“Lack of awareness in disabled persons about their rights and reluctance and non-cooperative attitude of government departments towards the disabled is the main reason for the plight of disabled persons in the province,” an official said.
Those government departments who will not employ disabled persons in the quota would also be required to pay Rs2,000 per disabled person. Most of the departments are neither following the policy nor paying the remittance, the official said.
The directorate of social welfare for the first time recovered remittance amounting Rs180,000 from the Workers Welfare Board last year as it had not employed any disabled person in the 2 per cent quota reserved for them.
The official concerned confirmed that many departments were still reluctant to employ disabled persons on posts reserved for them in the 2 per cent quota or pay remittance of Rs2,000 per person which is used for the rehabilitation of disabled persons who are already at a disadvantage.
The social welfare directorate provides financial assistance for self-employment and provides wheelchairs, tricycles, white canes and hearing aid to disabled persons.
Mr Rehman said: “Giving them things inculcates beggars’ mentality in the disabled. In many cases, disabled persons had later sold their wheelchairs for money.”