KARACHI, Jan 22: Paying tribute to the services of Louis Braille on his 200th birth anniversary, speakers at a seminar on Thursday demanded an end to discrimination against visually impaired people, provision of opportunities in education and employment for the disabled and the establishment of a Pakistan Standard Braille Authority that can ensure excellence in Braille teaching and education.

The programme, organised by the Pakistan Disabled Foundation (PDF), was attended by guests from all over the country.

The speakers regretted the apathy of successive governments towards the problems of the disabled, but hoped that the new government would bring some changes. “Despite huge budgetary allocations for the welfare of physically challenged people, no positive development has taken place over the years,” said PDF chairman Shahid Ahmed Memon. “One can take the example of the national policy and national plan of action for the disabled, both of which were framed in 2002 and were required to be implemented in 2006. So far, there has been no progress on both fronts.

“Also, the national council set up for the rehabilitation and settlement of the disabled under the education ministry has shown no development in the matter. The matter of issuing special identity cards for the disabled remains in cold storage, while no steps have so far been taken to facilitate the disabled in getting quality education and good employment opportunities,” he said.

He said that though the special education department’s head office was in Karachi, there were no schools in the city set up by that body. He said that all the work in the sector was being done by NGOs, and that the special education department was virtually inactive.

“How can the disabled compete if they are deprived of an enabling environment?” Mr Memon asked. “Corruption, nepotism and injustice, all known to have become the hallmark of our society, have further alienated the disabled. The employment quota reserved for the disabled is openly misappropriated and able-bodied persons get jobs in their places.”

The speakers also pointed out that a separate ministry for special education had failed to do its job and suggested that it be merged with the ministry of education.

“The government must take steps to remove all hitches in the implementation of job quotas and other facilities and benefits officially approved for the disabled. There is also a need for representation at an official level, especially in the ministry of women’s development,” they said.

Expressing concern over the fact that Braille instructors do not receive PhD allowances for being “students of linguistics”, the speakers stressed the need for creating awareness in official circles that Braille was not a language, but a method to read and write. Further, they said that Braille instructors were hired at grade 17, and retired at the same grade, regardless of the number of years that they taught.

“The physically challenged have been discriminated against and this must stop. Earlier, there was a restriction under which the blind were considered ineligible for teaching jobs. When they proved their mettle in the field, however, a restriction was put on their promotion,” a speaker said.

Elaborating the causes of decline in the teaching and learning of Braille, Abdul Mannan Darvish, Director of the National Training Centre for Special Education in Islamabad, said that the induction of untrained and incompetent staff as Braille instructors had greatly damaged the system of education for the blind.

“There was some seriousness on the part of the government during the 1980s, but gradually it faded away, and what was witnessed was pure mismanagement. Successive governments did a great injustice to the blind by inducting incompetent people into the education system. That led to the decline of the Braille system of education.”

Giving an insight into the present status of the Braille system, he said: “There are four Braille presses in Pakistan, but 99 per cent of [Braille] books are still imported. There are some who say Braille is an old system and want to discard it. But we must know that the preservation of Braille is linked to our very own survival. We must modify and improve it as is being done in other countries.”

He also stressed the need for establishing a Pakistan Standard Braille Authority that can ensure excellence in Braille teaching and learning.

French Consul-General Pierre Seillan, provincial minister for livestock Abdul Haq Bhurt and Karachi Bar Association general secretary Naeem Qureshi also spoke.