Establishment of National Degree College for

Physically Handicapped children

DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATIONMINISTRY OF CAPITAL ADMINSTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT

GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTANIntroduction

National Special Education centre for Physically handicapped Children (PHC & Al Farabi ) was established in 2000, prior to that it was working in a rented building since 1982, On a Presidential directive. It shifted to current location in 1990 and was elevated to the status of National Center on the completion of Purpose built building in 2000, It was up graded to Matriculation level in 2004 with affiliation to BISE, Islamabad.This Center for Physically handicapped children caters the need of Islamabad and Rawalpindi since its establishment; It has currently enrolment of 220 students and delivers Education and rehabilitation facilities from Pre-Nursery up to matriculation at par with normal education system. Apart from Education it has auxiliary facilities of Physiotherapy, Speech therapy, Vocational & Occupational help, Sports, Drawing , Individual & family educational & rehabilitation planning and support, They are encouraged and treated by Sports & Music Therapies too. A State of Art Orthotic & Prosthetics Lab is established under the guidance of a foreign Consultant that makes different splints, supports, artificial limbs and other highly refined orthotic devices of International standards.National Special Education Centre for Physically Handicapped Children (PHC) or popularly known as Al-Farabi, is constantly caring through Physiotherapy, Speech therapy, need for orthotic & Prosthetic support till their goals are achieved according to Individual educational plans and Individual family support programmes for children with severe Physical or Cerebral Palsies under the age of Five or who cannot attend the Institute regularly. Many of our Students are wheel chair bound hence they are supported by free wheel chairs, free Pick and drop facility and a “Wheel chair repair work shop” is also recently added to the list of services provided in this Institute. Rehabilitation is a complex phenomenon and needs constant support and input of many professionals and teachers. Coordinated, orchestrated and well planned activities result in Success in the shape of a useful citizen that is our aim.

NEED BASED ANALYSIS : Pakistan is sixth most populated nation on Earth and has an alarming rate of growth over 2.65%, at present the population stands at 180.7 Million (July 2012)*. According to International statistics by WHO* around 10% population of disability is notified in “World Health report “ for 2011 but countries which are poor, suffering from famine, natural disasters, internal turmoil, Wars and terrorism has more ratio of Persons With Disabilities than in countries at Peace. Pakistan has many such factors and is constantly suffering from Terrorism, has high poverty ratio, its indicators of health are high from countries on same economic levels, maternal mortality* (350/100,000) & infant mortality

rates (70/1000) are among the highest few, EDUCATION FOR ALL (EFA)* is not yet achieved.

Some Figures & Facts about Person with Disabilities (PWDs): 1. According to a recent data published in 2012 total population stands at 180.7

*Millions and the Total Population of Disabled is around 5.035 Millions* according to data recently published.

2. Share of Physically handicapped persons stands at 19.2% of total PWDs, persons with Multiple disabilities stands at 8.3%. The Number of Physically handicapped Population is around 964,000.

3. Currently like National Growth rate is 2.65 % which is one of the highest among community of nations. There is also need to formulate mechanism of early detection, Diagnosis and Intervention at national and gross root levels because it is not uniform some districts like Karachi East has 10.3% and Awaraan has every one in 10th person with some sort of disability.

4. Among the Population of disabled about 1.4Million are children with school going age with 0.06 million girl children most of them have no access to education at all and scattered and limited resources at National and Provincial levels are Physically impossible to reach every disabled child of School going age.

5. Total Population of Persons with disabilities in Islamabad district is 16352 out of this 10,059 are male and 6,293 are females, 53 % are urbanites and 47 % live in rural areas.

6. Out of all sorts of Disabilities, Physically handicapped Children make about 4888, Share of Rawalpindi district is about 73,770. Naturally every facility in Islamabad is shared by population of Rawalpindi city and adjacent areas also by default.

The sum of all that data is that only one National Center for Physically handicapped children which is catering the need of Islamabad and parts of Rawalpindi was initially a Primary rehabilitation center, than facilities were extended for Secondary Education in 2004, As normal Education Schools/ colleges/institutes of Higher education are not accessible for Disabled and they lack the facilities of coordinated education as available in a Special Education centre, like we are supporting Education along with Physiotherapy, Speech therapy, Vocational & Occupational rehabilitation, Music therapy, Immediate Medical Emergencies management, Parental & personal help, assessment & counseling facility, Individual and Family educational & rehabilitation Plans and early guidance systems, Sports facilities and coaching for Students with Physical

disabilities. Some of our students write and draw with feet; they are encourage to do so while their hands are not able or under developed for this finest Function in a human being. The up gradation of National Institute of Special Education for Physically Handicapped Children to a degree level Institutes with all available facilities will not only augment the process of transformation of Non productive to productive human being but it will help a sizeable population to acquire necessary skills to compete and pay their share in National development.At present sufficient space is available at National Special Education centre for Physically handicapped children G 8/4,Islamabad for starting a College till the construction of Degree College Building , a plot for that purpose is already available with Directorate general of Special Education at Sector I-11.

References:1.World health report, 2011, Pakistan population demographics,WHO,2012.2. PersonWith Disabilities (PWDs) STATISTICS IN PAKISTAN2012,November 2012by Helping Hands.3.Wikipedia, Pakistan.4.EFA or Education for All is an international initiative supported by UNESCO, World Bank and other agencies.