PESHAWAR, March 9: Lack of schools and teachers for handicapped people in the Frontier province in general, and in the country in particular, is affecting 5.2 million handicapped in the country, says a survey.
According to 1998 census report, the total population of the NWFP is 17,550,000, of which some 17,55,000 people were handicapped and needed special institutions and trained teachers to lead a normal life and become useful citizen of the society, said the survey conducted by a Swabi-based teacher, Ali Rehman, who has done his masters in special education from Allama Iqbal Open University.
The survey is based on a UN report, which says that every tenth Pakistani was handicapped in one way, or the other. Of these handicapped people about 351,000 (2 per cent of the total handicapped), are severely handicapped, which also include 140,400 (40 per cent of the severely handicapped) children of school-going age.
In the absence of qualified teachers and special schools, these people are destined to become burden on society in future. According to Ali Rehman, some 702 schools (for every 200 students) were required for these children to enable them to earn their livelihood in a honourable manner. Otherwise, they would ultimately resort to begging when they grew up.
According to 1994 directory of special education, the number of special education centres in the NWFP was 55, but one is unable to locate these schools.
There are also 561,600 people who fall in the category of moderately handicapped and can be turned into useful citizens, provided required number of schools and teachers were arranged for them, the survey states. The handicapped people deserve special attention, more so because many of them are born or rendered handicapped incidentally and needed to be treated at par with normal persons.
The number of physically handicapped people in the Frontier province is 0.702 million ( 40 per cent of total handicapped), who also needs at least one physical education expert per school (200 students), says the survey.
Similarly, some 5.2 million handicapped people in Pakistan also need to be imparted education, as they are entitled to get free education in line with the Constitution which says that every citizen of Pakistan will be given free access to education irrespective of clan, religion and colour.
The surveyor, who has based his assumptions on the UN findings, says that out of total number of handicapped people, 2,610,000 were severely handicapped (2 per cent of the total handicapped), who required about 5,220 schools (200 children per school).
Again according to the figure provided by 1994 directory of special children, the number of handicapped schools in the entire country was 282, which are nowhere in sight. Even if the report is to be believed, the number of these schools was grossly insufficient.
According to the survey, the number of moderate/mild special persons in the country was 10,446,000, of which 4.17 million were school age children. All these children can be taught in general schools but required specially trained teachers because general teachers do not know how to deal with their handicapped pupils. There is, however, no dearth of trained teachers but there was an intense need to build either separate buildings or acquire the services of medical and special educational consultants to impart them education.
Special children should be accorded priority over normal ones and healthy people to enable them to stand at their own feet because if they are left out of the education sphere, they would become a burden on the society, whereas the healthy people can take up some manual work for their living if they didn’t get education.
The government, specially, the federal education ministry, needs to take stock of the situation and contact donor agencies to get more funds to establish schools for disabled and appoint specially trained teachers. As handicapped persons constitute 10 per cent of the society and most of them read in general schools, there is a dire need for their proper schooling.
