Disabled and deprived

It is estimated that 2.49 percent of the Pakistani population has some kind of disability. Of this disabled population, 7.4 percent are deaf and this community lacks access to basic education as general schools are not trained or equipped to teach such students. Few schools teach the curriculum in sign language, while schools that do are few and spread thin, confined mainly to wealthier urban areas. Moreover, there is a shortage of sign language centers as well, depriving those with this disability from communicating properly in sign language with the non-disabled as well as with each other.

The majority of such people are unable to get a basic education and are usually found working in shops, workshops, factories and other low-paying occupations. The government should seriously think over this issue and focus on assisting this community. We need to come up with a strategy to educate such students so that this community might not go unattended and remained deprived from their basic social and moral rights.

Faisal Ansar

Karachi