Education for all, this blog post talks explicitly about providing education to children with disabilities. From what we have seen and heard, the norm is to put these children in “special schools”. These schools are separate and are considered better for these children as they can receive individual attention from their teachers. These schools often are not beneficial as these children have to stay in isolation and be separated from their families. If the first view of a child to the education system is going to be that he or she has to be separated from their family to go to a special school, is that child gonna give their best? Though this sounds like an act to help these children, are we helping them by separating them from their peers? Instead of keeping these children separate, we should try and integrate them into our current school system. We can do this by holding extra individual office hours for these children; we can involve the parents and keep weekly meetings for updates. Our priority should be to educate the child in every way possible. We could start this by teaching sign language to every student so that learning this language is not optional. We should also create games involving them; for example – we could have a sports competition (a race with wheelchairs). We need to make an inclusive environment for these kids to flourish, and we cannot do that without accepting them fully and giving them the same right to their school as any other child. Online classes should be an option for children who have difficulty coming to school. Reading aloud books, keeping daily activities, and learning sign language all these actions will speak louder than any words. These children have been used to being pushed to the side by our education system; we need to make them our central focus because, without any students, there won’t be an educational system. Since teachers are going to be interacting with these students for a more significant period of time, they should be provided with proper training and facilities. There should be mental health sessions for both the students and teachers. Furthermore, schools should be designed so they are accessible, like providing lifts and also wheelchair access not only limited to classes but washrooms, parking etc.
I think the biggest challenge with facilitating disabled kids is the budget and the mentality that we must cater to the able-bodied first. These are the two most significant barriers. These days we hear an educational message talking about disabled people when we call as we did for Covid. High-time governments realize that organized effort must be put in for them, which is not enough. At least for private elite institutes, the government should ensure that they have the infrastructure and all other necessary requirements to support them. The government needs to draw out policies and ensure implementation, these people can contribute to the GDP and help the country prosper so much yet we continue to create hindrances for them.
In general, children in Pakistan are the most disadvantaged population, experiencing significant challenges in their social and economic development. Disabled children (special children) are among society's most marginalized groups. Aside from handicap, poverty, societal stigma, a lack of understanding, and insufficient health treatment all contribute to their suffering. The presence of a handicapped kid in a household has an impact on the whole family's socioeconomic situation. Households with impaired children have lower incomes and are more likely to live in poverty. If a disabled child is born into a poor home, it simply has more than one impairment. In Pakistan, disabled children are severely deprived. Activists have asked for suitable laws to protect children's rights, but a lack of attention…
Great Post! There were two suggestions/ contributions I had to make to this post. Firstly, integration could be a way to move forward, but I believe it is a rather challenging one. To integrate students with special needs into the classroom requires special teacher trainings which allow teachers to get the right kind of training to accomodate students with extra needs/help. Teachers, this way, will be able to be sensitive to their needs. I have heard teachers using phrases like, " That is a very dumb question." or "Are you blind, can't you see- it is written on the board, etc." While these might seem like menial things, I think they play a very important role, even if sunconciously. My second…
I would like to point out that integrating students with disabilities into mainstream education system may not be the best way forward for these children themselves. Pakistan's education system is already stretched with students crammed into the available public and private schools of this country, which are not proportional to its population size. Educating such children at mainstream schools thus becomes as a challenge as I do not believe such schools can provide them with a safe, understanding and accepting environment. Such students require extra time, attention and special care when it comes to teaching them and in a class where one teacher is handling thirty to forty students, I don't think this is possible.
As is mentioned in the…
While it is important that we integrate them to the current school system, one needs to be cognizant of the fact that there are other factors involved in this. Firstly, students from mainstream schools, mainly because of their socialization, are not always accepting of differently abled people. They refuse to sit with them, engage with them, befriend or even understand their needs which can often lead to things like bullying and a student further being alienated within a system. There are examples of schools like Rising Sun Institute for Special Children or Hamza Foundation which are doing a great job in helping and educating these children with a specific curriculum catering to their needs and proper training facilities to enhance…